17 Again
by Emri
Summary: AU. The film 17 Again but with Faberry as the main characters. When Quinn gets the opportunity to be her 17 year old self again and go back to high school, will she finally realise what's really important to her and can she do it before she loses Rachel? Warning: Minor G!P
1. You Are My Future

23rd April 1992

Quinn Fabray never felt more in her element then when she was at centre court with a stack of basketballs next to her making free throw after free throw. After making about twelve in a row she was stopped by Coach Sylvester walking towards her.

"Save some for the game Fabray."

"Just warming up Coach." Quinn responded with a smile.

"I just got off the phone with the scout. They will be coming to the game tonight and if you play half the game I know your capable of, you'll get a scholarship, a free ride to college." Sylvester said grinning proudly at her top athlete.

"Thanks coach." Quinn said sincerely because she knew that the scout wouldn't have even looked at her if it hadn't been for the forcefulness of the older woman.

The rest of the team piled into the gym shortly after and Sylvester started barking orders to get them ready for the team picture.

"Wait a second, Sam isn't here, we have to wait." Quinn stated to the Coach.

"He's only the water boy what does it matter?" Santana, one of her team mates shouted rudely from the back of the room.

"It matters because we are a team." Quinn replied and Santana was stopped from answering by the abrupt appearance of the boy in question.

He was wearing a cloak and carrying some of his dungeons and dragons crap and Quinn physically had to stop herself from face palming as he started reeling off some things about the incredibly stupid game as an excuse for why he was late.

She quickly ran over to him and threw the cloak away so that it hit the opposite wall and whispered, "Listen, I'm your best friend and I will always have your back but there is only so much I can do when you turn up in a dress." Sam quickly nodded his understanding and they moved into position.

The boy looked so small when he came to stand at the front of the group though with his cloak effectively out of the picture he looked a little more respectable. He had tried out for the boys team which was coached by Ken Tanaka and failed to win even friendly games but they had refused to take him. Not even as the water boy but with some sweet talking from Quinn she quickly secured him the water boy spot on the vastly more successful girls basketball team. It wasn't much but it gave him a little boost to his popularity.

She smiled at the camera knowing she was going to be looking at this picture for years to come and just as it was taken, Santana who was standing behind Sam gave him a wedgie that lifted him off the floor.

After the picture she really wanted to punch the smirk off Santana's face but knew that she couldn't do anything to risk the game that night.

XXXXX

Quinn felt as if she was on top of the world. As she looked around the basketball stadium packed with people, many of whom were chanting her name, she had never felt happier in her life.

She just stood on the sidelines with Sam and took in the atmosphere.

The cheerleaders came running onto the court to psyche up the crowd for the game and started to a fairly simple routine to the song 'Bust a move.' Both Quinn and Sam were appreciating what they were seeing when Brittany, the head cheerleader and someone she considered to be a close friend, motioned for Quinn to join them and Quinn happily accepted.

She stood in front of the girls just as the chorus came and started to lay out some of her best dance moves and the crowd went wild. She even did some improvised dancing with Brittany. As the song came to an end she ran to the front and posed and just soaked up the love that the crowd were sending to her.

She high fived Brittany then walked over and did the same to Sam when she spotted her and she ruffled up Sam's hair before going to her.

She was stood next to the tunnel and was easily the main reason that Quinn loved her life.

Rachel Berry.

She ran over to her tiny girlfriend and wrapped her in her arms and spun her around then gave her a quick peck on the lips as she put her back down. She took a step back and that was when she noticed the look on Rachel's face and she realised that something was seriously wrong.

"Rach what's wrong?" She tried to mentally prepare herself for what ever her girlfriend was about to say but she was not ready for the two words that dropped out of Rachel's mouth.

"I'm pregnant."

Time felt like it had frozen and Quinn was fairly sure she wasn't breathing as she took a couple of stumbled steps backwards. Rachel was going to have a kid, her kid and she would have to help look after it and care for it. Their life would be over.

There was something different about Quinn Fabray in that she was born with fully functioning male genitalia and so when Rachel said she was pregnant she knew it was with her kid because they had been having sex for a few months now.

She heard her name being screamed again and knew that the game was about to start. It was the Championship game and she knew that she needed to be focused but she just couldn't as she tripped over her own shoes on the way back to the court.

As the ball was about to be tipped, Quinn took a look back towards the tunnel and saw Rachel looking at her with tears in her eyes. Rachel gave her a little wave that was clearly saying goodbye in a very permanent way and in an instant everything seemed to speed back up again. The ball was tapped into play and her team mate threw it to her and on pure reflex alone she caught it but her eyes were still trained on the tiny girl that was now disappearing out of sight down the tunnel.

In a split second she had made her decision. She straightened up, threw the ball over her shoulder and without looking back she ran after the woman she loved. She could hear the screams of her coach, her team and the fans asking what the hell she was doing but she ran away from it all and hoped she could find Rachel before she left the building.

She turned a corner and at the other end of the hallway was a picture of pure radiance and she sprinted to the smaller girl and skidded to a stop next to her.

"Rach...Rachel...please wait."

"Quinn what about the game, I can't let you throw away your future, I won't." Rachel said with such love in her voice that Quinn knew she had made the right decision.

"The baby is my future, you are my future." Quinn replied trying to express everything she was feeling through those words. Rachel looked like she was about to object again but Quinn wasn't going to let that happened so she kissed her. She wanted to tell Rachel how much she meant to her through the passion of the kiss because she knew she wasn't great with words.

They broke apart and seeing the smile on Rachel's face made a similar one light up on Quinn's and she spun her around in the empty hallway with no thought at all to what she had just given up.

20 Years Later

The annoying sound of her alarm clock blared through the unfamiliar bedroom and she hit it off and untangled herself from the solar system sheets, fighting a sigh. Sam was still a nerd even after all these years. She quickly got dressed and was making herself some coffee when she realised the only mugs her best friend owned were Darth Vader ones. Sighing she sat down at the counter just as Sam walked in and poured himself a big bowl of Captain crunch.

Despite the fact that the house she was now staying in was slightly strange she still felt grateful to Sam and after a few moments of listening to him slurp his cereal she said, "Thanks for letting me stay here by the way." She tried to muster up a real smile but failed massively.

"Hey its no problem." Sam seemed to think for a moment and then continued, "You know, you are looking at Rachel kicking you out of the house and the kids wanting nothing to do with you as a bad thing." Quinn gave him a sceptical look that could have set the whole house on fire and Sam seemed to lose his momentum.

"Yeah, I guess there is no upside to that. But you are getting that big promotion today right?" Sam asked smiling at the fact he had come up with something that could cheer up his friend. Quinn's answering smile was half hearted but it was more than Sam had seen in the last two days.

"Yes I am. Today is the day that everything turns around for me." Feeling slightly more energised and happy, Quinn picked up her bag, tapped Sam on the shoulder in farewell and walked out of the house.

"Knock em dead." Sam shouted after her.

XXXXX

When she was a kid there was no way in hell she would have said she would end up working selling pills and driving a 10 year old pale brown car but here she was and she was damn sure going to make the best of it.

She walked into that meeting, smiled at her boss and took notes during the incredibly stupid speech he was making.

"Today I am proud to introduce our new Regional Sales Manager." The man started giving a speech about 'what it takes' and Quinn tried to contain a genuine smile as he said her name but then the last solid thing in her world came crashing down.

"Quinn...Quinn if you can just slide over so I can congratulate our new RSM, Wendy."

People started celebrating around her but Quinn ignored it all as she tried to reign in her anger. When the rest of her colleagues had ran squealing in excitement from the room she walked over to the boss and gave him a 'what the hell' expression.

"What was that? Wendy has been here two months, I've been here for sixteen years."

"Sorry Quinn your just too valuable to promote." She once again tried to reign in her anger but failed when the man took a call on his phone and said he wasn't doing anything important. She lost it, grabbed the phone from his ear, smashed it against the wall next to his head and just enjoyed watching the fear light up in his eyes for a few moments before she walked out.

It was in keeping with the awfulness of her day and generally her life when Wendy and her friends got into the lift with her. She stood at the back listening to them making celebratory plans and saying OMG more then ten times in one conversation. She vaguely wondered if she ever sounded that stupid when she was younger and quickly concluded that she probably didn't.

She practically ran to her car to get away from the screaming girls and drove to McKinley High School.

Everything was exactly the way she remembered it and she was flooded with good memories. She remembered kissing Rachel next to her locker, walking down the hallway with people shouting her praise and the feeling of pure joy she got when she picked up a basketball.

A glimmer caught her eye and she turned to see a trophy cabinet and placed a little way back on a shelf was the team picture they had taken before the most important game of her life. The game she threw away for Rachel who threw Quinn away just as easily. It was times like this that she had to stop herself from falling apart.

A cough distracted her from her gloomy thoughts and she turned around to see a fat old man with a short white beard walking up to her holding a mop.

"Quinn Fabray!" The man said with excitement.

"Do I know you?" Quinn asked, not caring that she sounded rude.

"No but I know you. Your a high school star who never quite lived up to their potential. A person who is always living in the past." The old man said wisely.

"Of course I would want to live in the past, it was better then." Quinn responded looking back to the picture in the case.

"Bet you wish you could do it all again." The man stated.

"You bet I do." Quinn said wistfully.

Just then the bell rang and students started to rush out of the school as it was the end of the day and Quinn turned as she heard her daughter call, "Mom, what are you doing here?"

As she turned towards her daughter she realised the old man was gone but turned to her daughter anyway.

Harmony Fabray was the spitting image of Rachel and personality wise the girl was like a carbon copy. It hurt slightly to look into her brown eyes the exact same as her wife's and remember that Rachel didn't love her any more.

"I got off work early and wondered if you wanted to go get some ice cream?"

"Together? Why?" Her daughter responded with real confusion colouring her features.

Quinn tried to swallow down the hurt and just said, "Go get your Sister."

XXXXX

Ali Fabray was the polar opposite to Harmony in that she looked like a younger version of Quinn, personality included, even down to her trademark eyebrow lift. She had the blonde hair, hazel eyes, perfect bone structure and to top it all off she was on the basketball team just like Quinn had been.

The little trio walked into the ice cream parlour and the kids gave there orders then Harmony popped a set of head phones in her ears and Ali started playing on some kind of hand held game. Slightly exasperated she tapped Harmony's arm and she took out only one bud as she picked the cherries out of her ice cream and waited to hear what Quinn wanted.

"What's wrong you used to love this place?" Quinn asked trying and failing to get her daughter to make eye contact with her.

"Yeah when I was eight." And with that she ignored her mother again. Quinn decided that she might be better off trying to talk to Ali and wanted to start off on some easy territory.

"So Basketball season is coming up. Are you ready?"

Finally there was some eye contact but she could tell she was only half concentrating on her and was still playing her game under the table. The massive clue was that she kept answering good to all off her basketball skills questions.

"Good is not going to get you a scholarship." Quinn said leaning forward trying to impart the seriousness of the situation to her daughter.

"Its great mom." Quinn wasn't sold by the change of the word especially because she had always been able to tell when Ali was lying. Mostly as it was like looking at her own younger face when she was trying to get away with a lie. She pretended to believe Ali privately vowing to look into it later and tried to give Ali a high five but the younger blonde quickly looked to her older sister to shift the attention off her.

"You know Harmony got into Georgetown?"

Quinn was shocked and turned to her eldest daughter and she couldn't help but be a little proud.

"Harmony that's awesome!"

The brunette appeared to be completely enthralled with her music and was doing a little dance in her seat as she took a bite of ice cream. Quinn tried to get her to turn it off but when she looked down she realised that the head phones were not plugged into any music device. She just didn't want to talk to her mother. Quinn felt like her day couldn't get any worse.

XXXXX

A part of her was really excited to see Rachel again even though it had only been two days but a part of her was nervous to see how the little brunette was reacting. As she drove up the drive way to the house that she had lived and loved in for the past 18 years her heart ached a little which only intensified as her daughters practically ran away from her once the car stopped.

"Love you." She whispered at their backs as the door closed behind them. She took a deep breathe and knocked her head lightly on the roof of her car in exhaustion.

That was when she heard a loud grinding noise coming from the back yard and knocked open the gate to see what was going on.

Even after all those years the sight of Rachel still took her breathe away and so it took a few seconds till she realised that Rachel was wearing safety goggles and ear muffs as she threw things into a large chipper. She had yet to see Quinn and reached down and threw a bag that belonged to Quinn into the powerful machine sending its remains flying around the grass.

"What the hell are you doing?" Quinn shouted over the noise of her possessions being shredded and Rachel finally acknowledged her presence. She finished her task and turned off the chipper as she looked into the hazel eyes she once loved so much.

"Why are you destroying our yard?" Quinn asked at her normal volume.

"It not _our_ yard any more." Rachel replied bluntly then continued, "I am going to turn it into a show piece for my clients." She always had the inclination to share her excitment with Quinn and even though they were separating her heart still wanted to share its hopes with its former owner.

"What clients?" Quinn asked and Rachel had to fight to keep the look of exasperation off her face.

"Landscape design. I want to show people what I can do." Rachel answered walking away from the blonde. Secretly Quinn was really proud of Rachel for going for what she wanted but knew she couldn't say anything without Rachel taking it the wrong way.

Instead she followed her and said, "The divorce isn't final for another two weeks so until then you have no right to do this."

Rachel turned to face her looking incredulous as she practically screamed, "I have spent the last 18 years of my life listening to you whine about all the things that you could have done without me and I have no right?"

Quinn felt immensely guilty at hearing that she had made Rachel feel that way but she still felt slightly undignified about the yard.

"I put a lot of work into this yard." She responded.

"Really? All I see is multiple monuments of failed attempts to make our life better. Like the BBQ pit." She pointed to a mound of bricks on the ground where Quinn had clearly never finished the job and the blonde couldn't help but wince a bit at the sight. As Rachel continued pointing out her failures across the yard and saying how pathetic she was for just giving up, Quinn started to feel slightly defensive.

"Try to see this from my point of view, I am extremely disappointed with my life."

"I never asked you to marry me." Rachel responded sending out a hurt look that Quinn missed.

"Yeah but I did marry you." When Rachel's eyes started to cloud over, Quinn realised that what she had said could have been taken in the wrong way. She had meant her words to come out like that.

"Well we won't hold each other back any more." Rachel said turning around and barely holding back her tears.

"Rach..."

"No, I'll see you in court." She said as she walked over to a pile of mess and started to clean whilst gently dabbing at her eyes.

"Rachel!" A sing song voice called and Rachel automatically brightened as she ran to the gate calling, "Kurt!" She threw herself into the tall man's arms and he dropped his suitcases to catch her.

"I'm so glad you came." Rachel said pulling back with a smile.

"Of course I came. What kinds of a bridesmaid would I be if I didn't hold your hand through the divorce?"

Rachel shook her head at the man's successful attempt to cheer her up as Kurt spotted Quinn over Rachel's shoulder and glared as he acknowledged her. "Quinn."

"Hummel." Quinn said falling back on what she had called him in high school just because she knew it annoyed him since he got married.

"Anderson." Kurt corrected with a scowl.

"I don't care." Quinn said off handedly as the gay man led her wife into the house telling her she needed to get back on the market.

"Yeah I am a real catch." Rachel answered sarcastically and Quinn was about to tell her how amazing she was when Kurt interrupted.

"You look great, by the way when was the last time you waxed?"

"I hope our daughters heard that." Quinn called to the retreating pair sarcastically.

Kurt went inside but Rachel stopped and turned to look back at the woman she once called her soul mate with sorrow filled eyes and simply said, "Goodbye Quinn."

As she slipped inside the house Quinn whispered, "Bye," to the closed door.

She stood staring at the now uncrossable wooden barrier until a drop of rain fell on her face and thunder sounded in the distance.

There was a storm brewing.

**A/N: If you like it please review...**


	2. Find A New Path

On the way back to Sam's house it started really raining. Hard. The clouds had built up and was blocking what was left of the afternoon light. Usually Quinn loved it when it rained but this storm was really bad and it made for some dangerous driving and awful visibility. It also seemed like the weather was messing up the radio reception as all she could hear was fragments from different stations. Her windscreen wipers were working overtime which was exactly how she was able to spot him.

He was just a flash of white against the murky darkness of the bridge but as she drove past she could clearly see the old man janitor from the school. He turned to face her, flashed her a smile and then jumped over the railing of the bridge into the water below.

Quinn brought her car to a squealing stop and without a seconds hesitation dived out into the rain and leaned over the railing to see if she could see the man underneath. Almost as soon as she leaned over she felt a tugging sensation and suddenly she was falling into the swirling rapids as well. She had no time to think before she hit the water.

XXXXX

The first thing she felt was an intense throbbing in her head and she had no memory of why. Her first thought was that she had gone out and gotten drunk but she hadn't done that in years so why start now? When she started shivering she opened her eyes to find herself led on a path on the bridge with her car still running and parked a few metres away. It was no longer raining and it also appeared to be the morning if the strong light that was making her head pound was the sun.

She got up and stumbled over to her car, not caring that she was covered in mud and just wanting to go home.

That was when she remembered what had happened the previous night and why she was covered in mud. She had fallen into the river after the old man but for the life of her she couldn't figure out who had saved her and how she had ended up lying on the side of the road.

When another shiver took over her body she decided it would be best to figure it out after a warm shower and started to drive. Quinn was halfway to the house she had once shared with Rachel when she realised she didn't live there any more and drove back to Sam's apartment.

She headed straight to the shower when she arrived and just got straight in, fully clothed in an attempt to get the mud off. It didn't even occur to her that her long blonde hair was not getting in her way as she sprayed her face with water.

The mirror on the wall at the far end of the room caught her attention as she caught a glimpse of a stranger and her mind automatically went to the thought that there was a burglar. She took another look and noticed that the girl in the mirror was also stood in the shower washing off her muddy clothes and that was when her heart stopped and she ran to the mirror completely forgetting the shower head.

It was her in the mirror except she looked the same way she did when she was in High School. Her hair was dyed pink and was cut short around her face which now had a lot less wrinkles and when looking down around her stomach she had the perfect abs she used to have from playing basketball all the time.

None of this made sense so she did the only thing she could think of. She screamed.

After a few minutes of poking at her now slightly more defined face a flash caught her eye and she turned to see Sam sneaking down the hallway wearing a helmet and carrying an axe from his nerd collection of real life weapons.

"Sam?" Quinn questioned.

"Thief!" Sam screamed as he turned to see the stranger in his home and Quinn automatically realised her mistake as Sam's axe came swinging towards her. She narrowly avoided it as it got stuck in the wall behind her and she ran from the room shouting her explanation.

"No Sam...its me...stop!"

He just carried on shouting thief as he gave up on trying to get the axe out of the door and picked up a mace that was lying on a shelf. Finding the need to defend herself quickly, Quinn picked up a shield from a bracket on a wall and turned to face her friend. Before she had a chance the mace hit the shield which she managed to hold still at the impact due to her new found strength. Unfortunately the same could not be said for Sam and the force of the blow propelled him backwards over the railing down the 8 metre drop and sprawling onto the floor below.

"Sam!" Quinn shouted this time in fear for him as he peeled off his helmet and was wearing a seriously pained expression. She quickly jumped over the railing and landed on her feet right next to Sam's head. It had been about 20 years since she had been fit enough to pull off something like that and could not help but admire the muscles on her arms and legs as she stood there.

"I feel great." She told her friend but when she looked down he jumped up and pulled the rug out from beneath her feet.

Her back was seriously hurting but she hurriedly jumped up when she saw him pick up the sword from the sword in the stone which was sat in the corner of his living room. She picked up a wooden staff and once again starting fighting and not for the first time she thought how Sam had more money than sense in the way he decorated his house. Finally she shouted, "Sam its me Quinn Fabray, your best friend."

"Prove it!" He shouted slightly out of breathe due to the mini battle they were engaging in.

"You helped me cheat on my maths test but I got caught."

"Public record." He screamed

"You asked Princess Leia to Junior Prom." Quinn tried again.

"Covered by the local news."

With one final, well placed shot Quinn tripped him over so he fell on his back where he just led there regaining his breathe. A picture on a table caught his eye of him and Quinn at graduation and the girl in the picture and the girl in front of her looked exactly the same.

Looking up at hazel eyes that suddenly looked all too familiar, he took her offered hand and followed her into the kitchen where she got two bags out of the freezer and sat down. She passed him one which he put on his neck as he raced around his house picking up books, comics and magazines and mumbling to himself. When he finally sat down at the kitchen table with her he immediately started skim reading everything and sorting them into piles whilst she just rested her head on the table and the icepack on her head. Even with her eyes closed she could feel him occasionally staring at her but chose to ignore him.

After about an hour he closed and placed the last of the books and said, "OK so its a classic transformation story. It appears time and time again in literature. Were you shot by a gamma ray recently?" Sam asked with a serious face.

"No Sam." Quinn answered as if he were being stupid but the reality was that she was 37 and looked 17 so really anything he said at this point could be helpful.

"That eliminates these." Sam said gesturing to a pile of books on the right side of the table. He then leaned forward with a grave face and said, "Are you now or have you ever been, a Norse God, Vampire or time travelling cyborg."

Quinn was incredulous and practically shouted, "I have known you since first grade I think maybe I would have told you."

"Vampire wouldn't tell, cyborg wouldn't know." Sam answered as if he were imparting crucial wisdom.

"Shut up." Quinn said simply, holding her pounding head and closing her eyes to block out some of the intensifying sunlight coming from the window.

"Well that just leaves Spirit Guide Transformation Magic." Sam said as if it were obvious and Quinn opened her eyes and looked intently into the blue eyes she knew so well. As if seeing her sudden interest, Sam quickly flipped open a book close to him and started reading.

"_When the Hero_, I guess that's you, _is transformed by their spirit guide to set them on a new path." _Sam read.

"Which is what?" Quinn questioned

"What do I look like your spirit guide?" Sam said sarcastically and Quinn threw down her ice pack in exasperation and started to think. Who the hell did she know who could be her spirit guide. It wasn't like she had met a slightly transparent person or a creepy old man who had...

"The Janitor." Quinn whispered to herself.

It wasn't long until she was in her car, still with mud caked clothes, and was speeding down the highway until she skidded to a halt directly outside of McKinley High School. She ran into the building trying to avoid the odd looks she was getting and find the one man who she hoped could help her understand what was going on.

It wasn't until she was stood in the middle of the crowded hallway that she realised she didn't know where he was. She started to ask random students where he was but they all looked at her as if she was crazy and for all she knew, she was. She spotted a woman who looked like she was a janitor and she ran up and asked, "Another janitor works here do you know where he is?"

"There is only me kid." Then the woman walked off and Quinn had to acknowledge that if the old man really was her spirit guide he wouldn't have really worked at the school.

Wondering what to do next she spotted Ali at her locker and called down the hallway to her and waved. When Ali quickly walked away and she realised that she didn't look like herself she had to at least be glad that they had taught Ali well enough to walk away from shouting strangers.

At that moment the light directly over her head started to flicker just as the bell rang and the last of the students went to their classes. When the light stopped flickering she looked down to notice that she was standing in a trail of water and recognizing that she had no better ideas she decided to follow it and hope it led her to her spirit guide.

When she got to the end of the water she found the old man's mop bucket sitting there in the middle of the hallway and feeling incredibly stupid but like she needed to give it a go she shouted down the empty hallway.

"Spirit guide. I don't know what I am supposed to do." She mentally berated herself and kicked the mop bucket when she heard the squeal of shoes and walked over to the door next to the bucket.

Inside was the girl's basketball team going through a vigorous practice and all of a sudden she understood what she had to do.

XXXXX

When she got home Sam was playing multiple video games and startled a little when she came running into the room.

"Sorry forgot you were teenage you." Sam apologized as he carried on playing.

"Sam I know why this happened, I know what I have to do. I'm going back to high school." Quinn explained with excitement.

This finally got Sam's attention though he carried on playing. "No. No way would you guide waste transformation magic so you can relive your senior year."

"Sam this is my chance to do my life over but to do it right this time. Wouldn't you do it if you had the chance?"

"No. I'm rich and nobody has stuck my head in the toilet today." Sam said and Quinn remembered that they had significantly different high school experiences so conceded the point.

"OK but this is not just about me, its about something bigger than that."

"Its about you." Sam stated.

"Fine maybe it is about me," Quinn replied spinning around his chair so that the blonde man made eye contact with the pink haired girl. "But what's wrong with that?"

"Fine just don't drag me into this with you."

XXXXX

From the very first time Sam Evans met Quinn Fabray she had been able to manipulate him to make him do whatever she wanted. Apparently that talent had not dwindled over time which was why Sam was once more walking the dreaded halls of McKinley High School wearing the only thing that he owned that looked remotely parental. It was a cut off leather jacket with a t-shirt he was fairly sure he had bought in the eighties. The bright side was that at least Quinn looked equally as stupid in what she clearly thought were cool clothes. She was wearing a glittering t-shirt with a cap sideways on her head.

"I hate you." He whispered in the ear of his 'daughter' as he took a step up to the receptionist and using his 'dad' voice said, "Hello I would like to enroll my daughter."

The receptionist told them to take a seat and as soon as they did Quinn rounded on Sam and asked, "What the hell are you wearing? I told you to dress like a dad!"

"Are you seriously judging my outfit when your wearing thick gold chains and a sideways hat."

That seemed to shut her up and so Sam handed her a file which he hurried to put together before they left. It was filed with the various documents and achievements papers that she would need to get in.

"Are you sure these will get me in?" Quinn asked once she had flicked through the pages.

"I created a software that allows people to create fake passports, I think I can create suitable fake transcripts for you." Sam scoffed.

"Miss Jones will see you now." The receptionist called with a bored tone and they nodded their thanks. Just as they were about to pass through the door a broad shouldered guy only about two inches taller than Quinn purposefully bumped into her as he walked out.

"Watch where you are going tool bag." The guy muttered threateningly at Quinn and tried to get her to back down but she held her own.

"Joe get back to class." Mercedes called and the boy moved away.

As Sam stepped into the office he was fairly sure he had never seen a more beautiful woman in his entire life. If they had been in a movie, the first time he saw her there would have been wind blowing her hair in slow motion and soft music playing in the background. They weren't in a movie though so Sam felt his need to impress this woman hit him hard.

He strode forward purposefully and shook the African American woman's hand then he said what he considered to be a good line, "I think our hands just made a baby."

Quinn snorted and the Principal looked at her with 'is he for real' eyes and Quinn felt the need to explain. "Please excuse my Dad, he is not used to meeting attractive women."

"Thank you for that flattering but inappropriate comment..."

She was looking for Quinn's name which she quickly supplied, "Charlie Evans."

Quinn and Sam had engaged in a large debate over what they should say her name was. Evans was obvious as she was pretending to be Sam's daughter but Quinn was a no go because she couldn't walk around with the name Quinn looking like a younger version of herself. She had wanted to go with Lucy as it was her first name but Sam said that would result in the same problem as using Quinn. They eventually agreed on Charlie who had been their joint imaginary friend when they were growing up so at least they were used to hearing the name.

Sam managed to control himself after his original outburst though he did keep staring at the woman and when Principal Jones welcomed Quinn to the school she had to physically restrain herself from pumping her fist in celebration.

"Thank you Principal Jones." Quinn said politely at the same time that Sam blurted out, "Your pretty." Resisting the urge to face palm, Quinn shot a smile to the Principal and dragged Sam out of the room and away from the office.

"Let me give you some advice 'Dad', you need to play it cool with the ladies, she probably thinks your a freak now." Quinn said honestly but a little harshly.

"Well a little advice for you 'Daughter', you may want to get some new clothes if you don't want to get bullied when you start tomorrow." Sam replied with the same level of harshness as he walked off.

"These clothes are cool." Quinn said indignantly as she followed him to his car.

"Your shirt is bedazzled."

"Bedazzled with rhinestones!" Quinn responded as if that somehow made it better.

XXXXX

Sam decided that it was his duty to look out for his best friend and that was why he decided to take her shopping for new school clothes. He took her into a shop that had pictures of teenagers on the back of the wall and started picking out some items.

"Look I know that my sense of style is bad but suspenders? Seriously Sam?" Quinn questioned holding up the multi-coloured suspenders.

"Hell yeah, these are awesome." Sam said holding them up to his body.

"Well then perhaps you should by them for yourself Sir and we can find your daughter something more appropriate." The two blondes turned around to see a shopping assistant next to them with long black hair tied back and deep blue eyes. Sam seemed to like the idea and wandered off to see what else the store had, assuming that this lady could help Quinn find what she needed.

"I think what you need is something tight to show off this lean body of yours." The woman said, running her hands along Quinn's stomach and her eyes sparkling with something Quinn couldn't identify. Unsure of what she should do she froze until the woman, Laura according to her name tag, took her hand and led her over to some racks. She searched for a few seconds before she picked out some jeans and held them against Quinn's hips massaging the flesh lightly as she did so.

"These would look so sexy on you." Laura said in a low voice getting close to Quinn.

"You think so?" Quinn asked huskily very aware of how close the shorter woman was.

Laura nodded and bit her lip seductively before leaning in so their lips were closer. All of a sudden the image of Rachel flashed through her mind and she pulled away from Laura and pretended to look in a different stack. She still loved Rachel and even though they weren't living together any more they were still married and Quinn refused to cheat on her wife.

The Assistant seemed unfazed and gathered together more clothes, piled them into Quinn's arms then ushered her to the changing rooms. Trying on the first outfit that Laura set out for her she did think she looked kind of cool and as she lifted the shirt off her head, Laura drew back the curtain and said, "Let me have a look."

Laura got a very good look at the washboard abs as the pink haired girl turned towards her. Quinn was secretly quite pleased to be back in peak form and so didn't mind the woman getting a look as long as she looked but didn't touch.

"Sorry, I didn't realise you wanted to look at each outfit." Quinn said. The woman didn't respond she just drew the curtain behind her and slowly walked towards Quinn with darkened eyes. Quinn moved further and further back until her knees hit the bench behind her and she fell onto the seat.

Sensing her advantage, Laura quickly straddled Quinn and pressed their lips together. As Laura was wearing a skirt and from the feel of it, no underwear, the situation was fast becoming too intimate for Quinn's liking and so she lightly pushed the woman back.

There was mild surprise on Laura's face as Quinn said, "Sorry, I can't, I'm in love with someone else." Before she could react Quinn picked up the woman and deposited her gently on the bench, grabbed the large pile of clothes and walked out.

When Sam came rushing over with a multicoloured stack of clothes in his arms and gawked at her she realised she was still only in her bra and quickly slid her shirt back on.

"Don't ask." Quinn said as she walked to the check out and bought all the clothes that Laura picked out for her.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Sam replied following her.

XXXXX

The next stop was the hair dressers at Sam's request because as he had so kindly put it, "Your hair looks like poisonous cotton candy Quinn."

He suggested that she dye it back to blonde and she agreed and also got it cut so it made a nice fluffy ring around her head.

"Now I can bare to be seen around you." Sam joked as she walked out.

"At least I don't look like a 40 year old Justin Bieber wannabe."

XXXXX

She couldn't sleep that night and after a few hours of tossing and turning she decided to go for a walk around the neighbourhood. She slipped on a hoodie and some jeans and slipped quietly out of the house so that she didn't wake Sam. He had really gone above and beyond in his duty as her best friend that day and she had never been more grateful for him.

Her feet were used to taking the same route and so it wasn't long before she found herself standing outside of Rachel's house staring up at her curtained window. After a few moments she decided that she was acting like a stalker and was about to leave when she spotted the tree house she had made for Harmony and Ali about 10 years ago. Much like everything else in the yard it was incomplete as it was missing a roof but the girls hadn't seemed to care as they just used it as a spot to stargaze. She was glad that Rachel hadn't got around to taking it down yet.

She found herself climbing up the tree before she had a chance to consciously think about it and she led back on one of the blankets still placed on the floor of the wooden house and looked up at the stars. It almost physically hurt her to be surrounded by memories of a life with a family who no longer wanted her.

When the tears that had settled on her face started to feel like they were freezing she wiped them off, left the tree house and walked back to Sam's house.

On her way she noticed a small pub that was still open even though, according to her watch, it was 4am in the morning. Thinking it couldn't hurt to numb the pain for a while she pushed open the door to the quiet pub.

It was practically dead inside with an old man passed out at a table and the barman doing a crossword puzzle sat at a stool behind the bar. When he saw her, he got up and she sat down and said, "Vodka, straight please."

"How old are you?" The man asked suspiciously and Quinn inwardly groaned. She had her ID in her wallet and she obviously looked like the picture although 20 years younger but who would seriously believe that she was 37 as it said on the card.

"I'm over 18." Quinn said confidently.

"No ID, no drink." The man responded decisively. Quinn rubbed her hands over her face then nodded and left the bar.

A few minutes later she was in bed and tried not to think of the disappointment of the night but rather focus on her excitement for school the next day.

XXXXX

This was the exact way she had felt when she was a senior in high school. The feeling of being admired and being on top of the world. There was really no better feeling.

Sam had gone as far as to give her one of his cars to take to school and what made it even better was that it was a brand new, silver Audi R8, possibly the sleekest looking car in the world.

When she pulled into the school car park she saw that all eyes were on her and she felt the power as she put on her game face behind her tinted aviator sunglasses. That morning she had decided on wearing a pair of black skinny jeans with an incredibly tight v neck, white t-shirt that sculpted itself to her abs for her first day of school. From the looks on the faces of nearby boys and girls alike she knew it had been the right decision as she slipped on her black leather jacket and casually walked into the school.

Things had finally righted themselves in the life of Quinn Fabray.


	3. Welcome Back

**A/N: Sorry for the delay with this update, school has been crazy lately. I wrote this chapter quite quickly so tell me what you think about it. Also thanks for all the reviews and alerts, I'm glad that people are enjoying the story.**

Quinn liked to think that she was involved with her kids, even if they didn't talk to her as much as they used to when they were younger. That was why it came as a complete shock when she walked into her home room to see Harmony, her baby girl, hanging all over that giant idiot who had bumped into her outside the Principal's office. She remembered that his name was Joe and sneered at the stupidity of it, if only in her head.

She had never recalled Harmony ever mentioning the boy before and she had certainly never brought him home but from the way that they were constantly touching each other, they had been together for a while.

Apart form the obvious issue that she didn't know her kids very well any more there was also the issue of the other kids in the school. About four boys had come up to her since she walked in and asked her out.

"Your not my type." She had answered one of them and that had apparently been enough for the rumour to flood the school that she was gay and for people to take it as fact. That would have been a relief to Quinn to not have to constantly fend off boys who were 20 years younger than her if the rumour hadn't sparked the same kind of interest in a large group of the girls. Kids were obviously a lot more fluid with their sexuality than kids when she was young.

People were constantly glancing at her and whispering behind their hands but she tried to ignore it and she took a seat at the back of the room where she could keep an eye on Harmony.

The teacher wasn't in the room yet so when her phone buzzed, Quinn quickly answered it. She smiled when she heard Rachel's voice feeling the instant calm that always came over her, that was until she realised what Rachel was actually saying.

"Where are you? You are supposed to be at a meeting to discuss our divorce and custody over the kids."

Quinn ran her hands through her short hair as she remembered that the older her was supposed to met Rachel at her lawyer's office. Obviously she wasn't going to make it there because they would think she was just some crazy kid so she had to think of a lie, fast.

"I'm not in the country right now, I...I'm with...the Incas in Peru." It even sounded stupid to her but now she just had to wait to see if Rachel would buy it. Before Rachel could respond though a group of cheerleaders who were congregating around the seat next to her started giggling at something and as they were looking at her, they were probably laughing at her crappy lie.

"Are you with a girl?" Rachel asked astounded and as though she hoped she was mistaken. Quinn thought she sounded a little bit jealous. She didn't have time to answer because one of the said cheerleaders from earlier walked up to her and asked, "How would you feel about dating a tenth grader."

"I think you could go for full custody." Quinn could hear Rachel's lawyer say on the other end of the phone and Quinn face palmed effectively getting rid of the girl who was coming onto her.

"Don't you even care about our children Quinn?" Rachel gently asked as if pleading with her to declare that her family was the most important thing to her and that she would do anything to be with them.

"I'm a lot closer to them then you think?" Quinn responded looking over at Harmony who was now kissing the douche bag and having to contain her desire of breaking them up and punching the idiot in his stupid face. Rachel sighed and hung up and Quinn mirrored her actions then proceeded to glare at the front of the room with a vengeance.

She was glad when the teacher came in and forced Joe to take his seat though they were still eye sexing each other throughout the period even if the majority of the inappropriate behaviour was coming from Joe.

She found herself liking the slightly wrinkled, curly haired man until he said, "We have a new student today if she would like to get up and introduce herself to the class."

He looked really happy like he was giving her a great opportunity and so she couldn't bring herself to hate the man. Instead she walked confidently to the front of the room and stared into everyone's eyes as if she owned the room and everyone in it. This was the same attitude that allowed her to rule the school 20 years ago and it was the same attitude that was going to help her survive now.

"My name is Charlie Evans and I used to live in Chicago with my mom but she lost a custody battle recently and now I live with my Dad."

Everyone in the room was paying close attention to her and appeared to be wanting more so she continued, "I love to play basketball and I like rock music."

Everyone still looked like they wanted more but Quinn was already fed up with sprouting, '10 random facts you didn't know about me' and so turned to the teacher who was looking equally as enthralled.

"Well thank you Charlie, my name is Mr Schuester and on behalf of myself, the class and the school, I would like to say welcome to McKinley High School."

_Welcome back is more like it. At least now I have a name to put to the weird teacher's face. _She thought as she thanked him and walked back to her seat. Just as she sat down, Joe made a farting noise with his mouth which made him and some of his friends laugh like idiots and Quinn laughed loudly too then said, "Well done Joe on coming up with such an original joke, your a modern day Einstein my friend." There were multiple snickers from around the room which died down when Joe glared at his classmates.

He spent the rest of the lesson sending occasional evil glances back at her and so when the bell rang signalling first period, she practically ran from her seat even though she didn't know what or where her first period was in an attempt to avoid a fight. It wasn't that she couldn't fight or that she wasn't fairly confident she could win, the problem was that she didn't want to get suspended or something when she was supposed to be enjoying reliving her senior year.

In the middle of the crowded hallway she took out her sheet and nearly laughed with joy at the fact that her first period was gym.

Quinn had gotten very good grades in high school and particularly loved her science classes but there was no doubt that her favourite class was gym. She got a chance to just run around and release some energy and there was nothing more relaxing to her.

She slid into the girl's locker rooms and smiled at the familiarity of the large red room before going to find her old basketball locker. It was a happy coincidence that it was empty and so she quickly got changed into the outfit she was given for the period then made her way out onto the court.

There was a stack of basketballs to the side of the court and she wasted no time in grabbing one and running through some basic drills. People started to filter in around her and started mimicking her actions with a few people joining her at her hoop.

After half an hour Quinn was still not out of breathe and she was loving it.

"We are all in such great shape." She declared to the room at large and walked over to a skinny girl to continue. "When you get older you get this gut and you just won't be able to get rid of it no matter how many crunches you do." She turned to spread the warning to others when she realised that she was stood next to a girl that was already suffering from the problem she described.

"Never mind." She said clapping the larger girl supportively on the shoulder.

It was then that she noticed Harmony walking into the gym and joining some of her friends at the hoop at the opposite end of the court. It was three girls that were at the heart of the staring and pointing at her for the first hour or so of the day. The look in their eyes told her that these teenagers weren't exactly disgusted with the blonde and they definitely had ulterior motives that Quinn needed to watch out for.

When Harmony saw her friends were distracted she turned to look at the focus of her friends attention and Quinn smiled at her. Harmony rolled her eyes and turned away and Quinn was struck with the thought that Harmony had eerily similar reactions to the 37 year old and the 17 year old Quinn.

Before she had time to think about it any more the ball was thrown to her and she lost herself to the bounce of the rubber and the swish of the net.

Just as she was getting into the zone she heard a familiar voice shout form the sidelines, "Hey you, blondie, get over here." A smile spread across her face as she passed the basketball off to another student and walked towards the crazy old woman.

Sue Sylvester had aged well but twenty years are rarely kind to anyone and there was evidence or the strain on the older woman's face.

"My name is Coach Sylvester and you got some good hustle kid." The woman said with the permanent scowl that seemed etched on her face.

"Wow your still here?" Quinn asked, surprised that the sixty year old woman was still working in a high energy job. When Sue gave her a confused look she quickly hurried to explain herself, "Your a legend and I can't believe your still here. This school is very lucky." The comment seemed to throw the Coach of the scent and she quickly asked the question she had wanted to ask since the lesson started and she started watching Quinn's skills.

"We need a point guard, do you think your up for the challenge?"

Quinn was practically frozen with shock but soon thawed herself out to shout, "Hell yes."

It didn't matter that she had swore in front of a teacher, if anything it seemed to warm Sue up to her more.

"Tomorrow after school, don't screw it up." With that the slightly temperamental old women walked off.

The rest of the period passed quickly but as the time went on Quinn could start to feel an increasing number of eyes on her. She forced herself to ignore it saying that her 17 year old self would have taken this in her stride.

When the bell rang signalling the end of the period the rest of the girls practically ran out of the gym whilst Quinn continued to shoot 3 pointer after 3 pointer and with great reluctance dragged herself to her next lesson.

She knew that she was probably making herself seem like a weirdo but she didn't really care as she spent most of the next lesson staring at the back of Harmony's head and trying to understand when she stopped being close to her daughter. At one point Harmony actually caught Quinn's eye as she turned to pass some papers back and Quinn smiled at her whilst Harmony just gave her a confused look before turning around again.

If she wanted to avoid being labelled a stalker she had to lay off on watching her kids for a little while and so when it was time for lunch she walked the opposite direction from the way Harmony was walking and slid into what appeared to be an empty girl's bathroom to call Sam.

"Yello." Sam answered the phone in true dork style.

"Sam, its me." Quinn said but before she could continue, Sam's excited voice cut over her.

"Oh good, I need you to do me a favour. I need you to get in trouble."

She stopped in mid stride over to the bathroom mirrors at the odd request when realisation dawned on her.

"You want to see Principal Jones again don't you?" She asked him and started checking out her new haircut in the mirror. She wasn't sure she was keen on having it short, though it would save her time in the mornings and at least it was no longer pink. She had long since passed her rebel stage.

"Maybe. Just do something to make her call your Dad in."

"I'll see what I can do." She was about to continue talking when she heard a familiar voice call out from one of the bathroom stalls and she hung up and went to investigate.

Quinn pushed open one of the doors of the stalls and it revealed the sight of her 15 year old daughter Ali taped to a toilet with copious amounts of duct tape. It truly broke her heart to see her daughter so broken but she was still massively confused as to what had happened.

"Little help." Ali said with slight embarrassment colouring her cheeks coupled with annoyance.

"What happened?" Quinn asked and leaned against the side of the stall.

"The girl's basketball team taped me here." She answered with a sigh as if that answer explained everything.

"But your one of them. Your popular." Quinn stated.

"That is really personal and who are you?" Ali responded getting defensive.

The lie quickly slid into Quinn's brain as she stood up and said with a smile, "I'm Charlie Evans, I'm your Uncle Sam's kid."

"Its nice to meet you. I would shake your hand but you know, its taped to my ass." Ali replied dryly and Quinn couldn't help but laugh as she moved forward and got in position.

"Like a band aid." She said and Ali nodded as Quinn tore the duct tape away in one swift movement. Quinn was proud that her little girl didn't cry but did let out a pained sounding shriek.

After that Quinn and Ali went to the cafeteria to grab lunch and sat at an empty table in the middle of the room. It was only then that Quinn realised how starving she was, probably from her earlier workout and sped through her burger in a few seconds.

When she looked up after swallowing she noticed that across from her, Ali had completely forgotten about the tray of food in front of her and was sporting a deer in headlights look. Following her youngest daughter's gaze she spotted a group of cheerleaders sitting down at a table and chatting animatedly. Ali's gaze was focused on one very specific cheerleader in the form of Sugar Lopez.

Despite the animosity between Quinn and Santana Lopez in High School they had become good friends as they grew older and so Quinn knew Sugar fairly well though she couldn't remember Ali ever hanging out with Sugar and Harmony when the two families got together. She would mainly hang out with Tom Lopez who was her own age and seemed to avoid Sugar. The weird behaviour made sense now looking between the two girls even if the idea that her daughter also liked women shocked her a little bit.

"Who's that?" Quinn asked with a smile, interested in seeing how Ali would respond. When she realised that she had been caught staring, she started to panic and started gasping whilst trying to come up with an answer.

"She's cute." Quinn continued with mock appraisal trying to calm Ali down a little.

Seeing that Quinn wasn't going to judge her she corrected her. "She is more than just cute, she is possibly the single most beautiful creature I have ever seen on this planet." Quinn might have laughed at what seemed like such a cheesy line but the conviction that the younger blonde spoke with, Quinn knew that Ali was sincere and didn't even realise how corny she sounded.

"Why don't you ask her out?" Quinn asked, returning to her lunch and sticking four fries in her mouth at once.

In response to that question, Ali turned to Quinn and snorted in an undignified manner then quickly swivelled her head back around to check that Sugar hadn't heard the noise even though she was on the other side of the room. When she was sure that Sugar hadn't noticed anything she turned to Quinn and whispered, "What the hell Charlie, don't speak so loud. People don't know I like girls and especially not the head cheerleader girl."

"You still haven't answered my question." Quinn replied with a smirk on her face as her daughter got more and more flustered.

"I don't ask her out because she is straight and there is no way that she would like a loser like me even if she wasn't." By the end of her sentence she looked completely dejected and took a pitiful bite of her sandwich.

"The power of positive thinking dude. You don't know what could happen." Quinn said cryptically with a plan already forming in her mind about how she could get the two teenagers together. Ali looked like she wanted to ask more questions but a flash of fear crossed her face and she practically buried her face in her tray. Turning around, Quinn noticed the source of Ali's fear and struggled not to feel sick at what she saw.

The stupid dread locked boy, Joe, had picked Harmony up, put her on the table in the middle of the room and started to kiss her. Quinn didn't have anything against public displays of affection such as a quick kiss but the way Joe's hands were roaming and the fact that he was doing it to Quinn's daughter, meant that she had to physically restrain herself from punching his now saliva covered face.

"Why are you scared of that guy?"Quinn asked noticing Ali's expression.

"He's the guy who got the girl's team to tape me to the toilet and who stuffed me in the washing machine in my house and set it to fast spin." Ali replied looking down at the table with a pained expression at the memory.

"Why the hell didn't Harmony stop him?" Quinn asked suddenly outraged.

"You know Harmony? Well she wasn't there, it was just me and him at home. At least the door automatically opened at the end of the spin so I wasn't stuck in there for hours."

As she sat indecisive as to whether she should break the couple apart, knowing that in her current angry state things might get heated, Joe noticed her staring at them and all of a sudden stopped his illicit activities and started walking over.

"Oh crap, he's coming over." Ali said as she tried to move her chair back but Quinn hooked her feet around it, stopping the retreat and murmured with a cocky smirk, "Don't worry, I got this."

She stood to face him as he tried to look threatening and she could feel the eyes of the whole cafeteria on them, all waiting for the inevitable throw down.

On spotting the determined look on Quinn's face, Joe decided to go for the weaker target as he spotted Ali in the background, trying and failing to disappear.

"How's it go Al?" He asked with a fake smile as he picked up a basket ball from a nearby table and bounced it on her head.

"Don't you dare touch her." Quinn said with authority that made Joe turn back to her and with what he probably thought were lightening quick reflexes, threw the basketball at Quinn's face and shouted, "Head's up."

With what actually were lightening quick reflexes Quinn stuck her arm out and stopped the ball by grabbing it in mid air. The whole cafeteria was deadly quiet and the smile was wiped from Joe's face when he saw that Quinn was unharmed.

"Give me my ball back...bitch!" He tried to sound intimidating but just looked pathetic.

"You know Joe, I feel sorry for you."

"You don't even know me." He said with a sneer.

Quinn started spinning the ball back and forth between her hands with a skill and precision that came from years of constant training.

"Oh but I do." Quinn replied with a fake smile. She started to spin the ball on one finger and circled the boy in front of her as she continued, "Your captain of the basketball team, you date the pretty girls, high school is your kingdom." At the mention of his girlfriend he flicked a glance at her hoping that she wasn't seeing him getting owned and Quinn looked back to Harmony as well and really wanted to drive her point home that this guy was a loser. She turned to address the crowd and held the ball out to them as she raised her voice and said, "But people, Joe is a bully. It would be easy to say he prays on the weak simply because he's a dick but Joe is much more complex than that."

Quinn was now stood a good ten metres away from Joe and turned back to face him as the crowd laughed at her calling Joe a dick. She then decided to use some skills of young Quinn by doing some more basketball tricks and older Quinn as she used some of her knowledge.

"Joe is a bully for one of three reasons." She announced to the crowd and held out three fingers whilst still spinning the ball on the middle one. She moved the ball to the first finger and continued, "One, underneath all that male bravado there is an insecure little girl just trying to get out." She accentuated her point by showing that bravado via flipping the ball over and around her arms as she spoke.

"Two, like a caveman, Joe's brain is underdeveloped so he is unable to use self control." To add to her point this time she rolled the ball forward and backward over her arm in an amazing show of self control and she could see how riveted the entire room was with her performance.

_Time for the big finale. _

She spun the ball again but this time balanced it on her little finger as she delivered the final blow.

"And the third reason...Joe has a small weiner." The whole room broke into laughter at that as Joe folded his arms and took a step back. Quinn knew when to press her advantage and dribbled the ball towards him and faked throwing the ball at his face when she got close enough. He reached out to protect himself but the ball remained in Quinn's hand until she gently passed him the ball and said, "Don't hurt yourself big guy."

She once again took her seat and started to eat her lunch as she watched Joe hesitantly bumble away unsure of what he should do with himself. Ali was looking at her with awe in her eyes and Quinn was quite enjoying it until she saw Harmony rush out of the cafeteria after Joe.

Quinn just shrugged as she went back to her now cold lunch.

_You can't win them all._

**A/N: If you liked the chapter, review!**


	4. Call Me Rachel

**A/N: Hey guys, thanks for reviewing and stuff. I just wanted to answer some questions.**

**W1cked: Quinn works all day and so was very rarely home with her family and would never have seen Joe. Joe came over to the house to see Harmony but she wasn't home, only Ali was. **

**HPOL001: I took the timing's from the actual film so all I can say is the fault is with Burr Steers.**

**Constructive Criticism: I've made this one longer and tried to make it more my own story. I hope you enjoy.**

**I hope that cleared some stuff up for you. Now on with the story...**

The first time you feel that ice cold blast of chemically flavoured slush you know that you will never forget the feeling. Back when Quinn was young, the kids hadn't been so creative as to come up with the slushie facial to mark the losers but this was a creation of evil genius, that was for sure.

It wasn't just the shock of the impact or the way that the ice trickled down into every crevice of your body, though those were very important factors. It was the way that everyone just looked and laughed and then how you had to take the long walk of shame to the nearest bathroom.

These were all things that Quinn learned very quickly as she went to her locker after lunch and felt the full force of Joe's retribution. And it was cherry flavoured. The irony of doing something so evil with something so sweet wasn't lost on Quinn as she wiped the sugary substance out of her eyes and felt a small hand grab her arm and lead her down the hallway.

The cruel laughter died away as the door closed and Quinn noticed that it was Sugar that had led her into the girl's bathroom and was now moving her towards a sink.

"Its a good thing your hair is so short or this would have been a lot harder. I think your shirt is ruined though so we'll have to find you something new to wear." She said, half to herself as she pulled a stool from the corner of the room and forced Quinn to sit down.

On her part Quinn was still suffering from shock at the new experience but as violent shivers started to overtake her body she slowly started to come back to life.

"You need to get out of these wet clothes or you'll catch a cold and we need to get this slushie out of your hair or it will turn pink and you wouldn't want that." She said with a smile as she started to pull the white t-shirt up and over Quinn's head.

"What are you doing?" Quinn questioned but it was too late and the shirt was already in a pile on the floor and Sugar was pushing her backwards to rest her head against the sink.

"I just said, you'll get sick if you stay in that shirt, I'll go find you some clothes in a minute but I thought you might need some help washing your hair?" Sugar repeated patiently and when Quinn nodded in understanding she took that as permission to continue.

Quinn did want to ask why Sugar was being so kind to her but even as a little girl Sugar had definitely picked up Brittany's knack for kindness so Quinn just went with it and let the feeling of the warm water and soft hands relax her. Her eyes started to drift close and she was fairly sure she had fallen asleep until she heard multiple things happen at once.

The school bell rang, Sugar turned the water off and leaned across her to reach a towel so that she was practically straddling Quinn and finally the bathroom door smashed opened to show a slightly panting and worried looking Ali.

The worried look quickly dissipated and was replaced by a hurt one as Ali took in the scene in front of her. Her new friend, the one who had defended her and the only one she had told about her crush was sat there, topless, with said crush sat on Quinn's lap and Sugar's breasts in her face.

"Hey Ali, just the girl I was looking for. I need to find a shirt for Charlie and your about her size right?" Sugar asked pulling back from Quinn with the towel in her hand and seemingly oblivious to Ali's pain.

"Yeah...sure...I'll see what I can do." Ali murmured as she turned and walked away looking broken. Sugar just carried on as if nothing had happened as she passed the towel to Quinn then started wringing the cherry syrup from the ruined t-shirt.

"I can't thank you enough for helping me, I don't even know you." Quinn said towel drying her hair.

"Its no problem. My mom always tells me to help people whenever they need it even if they are strangers." Sugar said flashing her a smile and putting the now slightly cleaner shirt in Quinn's bag. "My mom also says that eyes are the window to the soul and your soul looks really familiar."

Before Quinn could think of a response, the door was pushed open again and Ali threw a black band t-shirt at Quinn before leaving the room sullenly, without making eye contact with either of them.

"What's wrong with Ali." Sugar asked with real concern on her face.

Quinn slid the shirt on and then shrugged. "Why don't you ask her?"

Sugar nodded her head absent mindedly, still shooting glances at the door. She straightened out Quinn's new shirt, smiling slightly at the memory of Ali wearing it a few weeks ago and then said seriously, "I know it sucks to get slushied but it happens to every new kid. I will spread the word that your off the radar with those bullies and my word is pretty much law as head cheerleader."

"Thank you." Quinn said simply and pulled the small girl in for a quick hug.

"Any time." Sugar called over her shoulder, walking out of the bathroom just as the bell rang, signalling that Quinn was late for her afternoon classes.

XXXXX

As soon as Quinn walked into Sam's house the first thing she did was put Ali's shirt and her own ruined shirt on for a wash and then went to the fridge and grabbed a beer. Just as she was about to drink it, Sam walked in and stole it from her.

"Sometimes I really hate you." Quinn stated as she softly banged her head against the closed fridge door.

"How could you possibly hate your loveable father, Charlie?" Sam asked taking a few gulps from the can.

"Quite easily when you steal my beer." Quinn said as she grabbed a bottle of water instead and sat down at the breakfast bar.

"Technically its my beer, your stealing it and also I should be the one that hates you. I didn't get a call today so obviously you have yet to get in trouble. Are you trying to cock-block me?" Sam asked, sitting down opposite her.

Quinn let her head sink into her hands as she remembered Sam's earlier request and muttered, "I forgot. I'll see what I can do for you tomorrow but I make no promises."

Sam seemed content with her answer and let her sit there until they heard the little ding that told them the shirts were now washed and dried. It seemed to put some new life into Quinn as she practically ran from the room to retrieve the black t-shirt.

"I love My Chemical Romance but one of their band t-shirts is not something to get excited about." Sam said leaning out of his chair, to look around the corner and see Quinn folding the t-shirt very precisely. She snorted as she walked back into the kitchen.

"This t-shirt is Ali's, she leant it to me today and I am going to take it to her house and try to talk to her a bit." Quinn explained.

He really wasn't interested in getting involved in any teenage girl drama and he could already hear the call of his PS3 from upstairs and so he stood up and left, shouting, "Good luck!" As he walked upstairs.

"I'm going to need a bit more than luck if I am going to get her to speak to me again after what she thinks happened today." She whispered to herself as she ran a hand through her hair, picked up the shirt and drove towards her old house.

XXXXX

Pride swept through her like a tidal wave when she pulled up outside the house and caught a glimpse of her daughter with a basketball in her hands, playing in the back yard. She pushed open the fence and Ali immediately dropped the ball in favour of folding her arms and scowling at the intruder.

It was times like that when Quinn really saw Rachel's genes in Ali, as the scowl was honed to perfection and the glare felt like it could literally melt her flesh off the bone. She stopped where she was and tried to get the sincerest look on her face so Ali would believe her when she told her what had happened with Sugar.

"Hey Ali, I just wanted to..." Quinn started when Ali interrupted her in a betrayed voice.

"How could you? I told you how I felt about her and you go and get her hanging all over you. I thought you were my friend?"

"Ali it wasn't what it looked like. I got slushied and she was helping me to clean up. I wouldn't betray you like that, I promise." Quinn explained.

"Why was she led on you then?" Ali questioned with the fire in her eyes dwindling slightly.

"She was just reaching over me to get a towel so that I could dry my hair." Quinn chanced taking a step towards the younger blonde and when Ali didn't move back she took that as a good sign.

"My hair smells of her shampoo if that will prove anything to you?" Quinn said and lowered her head a little so Ali could verify the fact if she wanted to. The shorter girl leaned up a little to take a quick sniff and when smelling the familiar scent of vanilla as well as seeing the honest expression on Quinn's face, she decided to trust the girl.

"Fine Evans, but if I see you hanging around my girl any more, there will be hell to pay!" Ali tried to look as intimidating as possible but knew she had failed when she saw Quinn trying to contain her laughter.

"At least try to look scared by me." Ali fake pleaded.

"Sorry Al, I'm still stuck on the fact that even though you two haven't been in close contact for ages you still know what shampoo she uses. Your kind of a stalker." Quinn teased pulling Ali towards her and putting her in a head lock. Delivering a quick kidney shot, Ali managed to get out of the hold and take some hurried steps back, grabbing the basketball in the process.

"Oh its so on." Quinn said taking off her jacket and throwing it to the side of the court then facing up to Ali.

They played until they heard a car pull up into the driveway right next to the court. Despite realising which house she was in, when Quinn turned around she was still shocked to see Rachel getting out of the car. She tried to wipe the sweat out of her eyes so that she at least didn't look like a weird sweaty stranger when Rachel met the new version of her and managed it just as Rachel made eye contact with her and froze.

"Momma, this is Charlie, Uncle Sam's kid." Ali introduced from a few steps behind Quinn. Seeing that Rachel was going to make no move to respond she stepped forward and shook her hand.

"Its a pleasure to meet you Mrs Fabray." She tried to ignore the shot of electricity that raced through her palm at the simple contact.

"Its Miss Berry kid." Kurt replied, appearing from behind the car.

Before Quinn had a chance to say something biting back about them still being married Rachel put her face about an inch from Quinn's and was staring at her so intensely that Quinn gulped.

"You look just like my wife when she was a kid." Rachel stated as if this should be huge news to her. She started touching her face to see how deep the similarities led and Quinn couldn't help but close her eyes at the sensation of being close to Rachel again.

Not for the first time in her life she had the desire to punch Kurt Hummel in the face as he pulled her wife away from her and said, "Sweetie, we really need to go inside."

Quinn kept watching the door until Rachel disappeared behind it and a few seconds later she felt a rubber projectile bounce off the side of her head as Ali threw the ball at her and called, "Come on man, lets play!"

XXXXX

Health class. Quinn had nothing in particular against the concept of learning about stuff like that, in fact she knew it was very beneficial to her when she was a kid trying to grow up with the 'handicap' that was in her pants. It had also helped that they were in mixed gender health classes because it meant that she had gotten sex education that was relevant to guys and therefore relevant to her.

All of those things that had helped her so much first time around were the very reasons she was dreading the next period where she would have to learn about sex in the same class as her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend.

She took her seat and completely ignored the couple kissing on the desk in front of her as the teacher walked in and then thankfully told everyone to take their seats. Quinn couldn't help but see the comedy in the fact that it was the same teacher still teaching health class although now she was an old woman. As Harmony took the seat across the isle, Joe went to sit in the seat in front of Quinn and she couldn't restrain herself from using her feet to swipe the chair out from underneath the dread-locked boy.

She cursed in her mind that the boy was athletic enough to catch himself on the desk as he fell so that he didn't hit the floor. The thought of simply kicking him in his now easily reachable ass crossed her mind but the moment soon passed as the boy swivelled around with a murderous look on his face.

"Mr Hart, sit down, we are about to start the lesson." Mrs Peters called from the front of the classroom and he reluctantly took his seat but not before sending a final glare at the blonde girl.

"Today we are going to talk about safe sex." The old lady spoke as she started passing around a box of condoms telling each student to take one.

When the box was passed to Joe he took a huge handful and announced to the class, "This might last a weekend." Her hand was shaking with anger as he turned and she went to grab one only to have him pass it to the guy on his other side and sneer, "You don't need these."

Quinn was never one to be outdone and so she cleared her expression and said, "Your right, I don't need one."

Everyone in the class was now looking at the exchange between the two basketball players so Quinn raised her voice a little louder and addressed the room.

"You know why I don't need one. Its because I plan to wait until I find somebody that I love. I mean its called making love isn't it." As much as she had tried to avoid it, Quinn found herself mainly talking to Harmony in an attempt to convince her not to sleep with the douche bag. She refused to entertain the idea that they may have already slept together.

"You should wait for the right person." She felt like Harmony was really taking her words on board and she couldn't help but smile a little.

Joe looked annoyed and suddenly grabbed the box back from the boy next to him and deposited all of the condoms he had taken back in it. Making sure he was looking right at Quinn as he spoke, he said, "I don't need these either but only because my baby loves it raw." He finished by leering suggestively at Harmony and leaning across the isle to her. That was when Quinn felt herself snap.

Before anyone knew what was happening, Quinn had gotten up out of her chair and had propelled herself into Joe, dragging him down onto the floor where she started punching him in the face, full force. She had only punched him twice and heard a very satisfying crunch when Joe's knee suddenly came up and slammed into her junk which effectively knocked her off.

He punched her in the face and she felt her lip split open before the angry boy was pulled off her. Still reeling from the pain of getting hit in the junk she clasped the precious part of her body and rolled over.

"What the hell? Your more of as freak than I thought you were Evans." Joe called from across the room where he was being restrained by a male teacher. The whole class had started murmuring as the indentation of what was in Quinn's pants became obvious, not helped by the fact that Quinn was cupping it in her hand to try to soothe some of the pain.

The last thing she saw was Harmony's eyes filled with something indescribable before she was dragged out of the room and into the Principal's office.

XXXXX

As soon as she had walked through the door into the office it was only a few seconds before the secretary, a man with glasses in a wheelchair, passed her a bag of ice and without a seconds hesitation she placed it in her lap.

She knew she was in trouble. Not just for the fight but also because of what everyone had seen in that classroom. There was no way that she could explain away the bulge in her pants especially not after it had caused her so much pain to be hit in it.

Just as the wheelchair guy told her she could go in, Sam came running in through the door out of breathe and patted her on the back.

"Thanks Charlie, I knew you would come through for me." He said referring to when he had asked her to get in a fight so he could see Mercedes again.

"What did you do to your hair?" Quinn asked. Sam had swept his hair to the side instead of her normal spiky hair style and was wearing a zip up hoody.

"Its Bieber style. Its cool." He declared.

After being a teenager for a little over a day Quinn could be very sure when she said, "No its not."

"Justin Bieber is a national treasure."

"Then lets bury him." Quinn responded putting the ice pack down on the desk and trying not to grimace at the friction from her movement on her now more sensitive area.

"We'll just see what Miss Jones thinks." Sam said as he strode towards the office door, knocked it once and then let himself into the room. Quinn followed, trying not to laugh at his attempt at cockiness.

The woman looked startled as Sam barged into the room, rounded the desk, knelt down in front of her seated form and kissed her hand. Sam had a huge grin on his face due to his imagined smoothness and Mercedes just looked incredibly uncomfortable and when he moved to take a seat in front of the desk she discretely wiped her hand on her skirt.

Quinn closed the door behind her and whimpered lightly as she sat down slowly next to Sam. Mercedes looked at her with sympathy as she cleared her throat and said, "Well Miss Evans, its only been two days and already you have made quite a splash hear at McKinley." She only nodded her response and looked at her lap in shame as the Principal continued. "We have a no fighting policy at this school and we would usually reward the instigator of a fight with a suspension... we aren't going to do that this time."

"How very kind of you." Sam said and started reaching for her hand again but Mercedes quickly moved her hand away and looked at Quinn.

"Charlie, I know it is tough to settle into a new school but fighting isn't the way to deal with your problems. I'm going to be easy on you this time and you are only going to get a week's worth of after school detention, starting tomorrow and I hope that teaches you a lesson." Mercedes went back to the papers on her desk and they took that as their cue to leave with Quinn having to physically push Sam in front of her.

Just as she was about to close the door behind her, Mercedes looked up and made eye contact with her.

"I would also like you to visit the guidance Councillor at lunch time today and maybe she can give you some advice on how to handle any secrets that might have gotten out recently. Its compulsory by the way Miss Evans." The Principal said with a knowing but supportive smile.

"Thank you Miss Jones."

XXXXX

Emma Pillsbury was kind at heart, that much was obvious when she talked with her students but sometimes she handled delicate situations badly.

For example, a few seconds after Quinn had sat down in her office during their lunch time meeting, the red headed woman had handed Quinn a leaflet which was titled, "So your a little different down there." It had a cartoon picture of a teenager covering their junk and disbelievingly, Quinn looked up from the paper in her hand. When she saw the expectant look in the Councillor's eyes she quickly made her face look interested and flipped through the pamphlet, knowing that the woman was only trying to help.

"This situation isn't as uncommon as you would think Charlie. This isn't a disease or something that needs to be fixed, its just you and something you have to learn to accept about yourself." Emma said with a gentle smile.

"I have accepted this part of myself, I just didn't want the hassle of everyone else finding out. This happened last time...at my old school and everyone treated me differently. Most people excepted me in time but some constantly hurled abuse at me. I don't want that here." Quinn explained putting the pamphlet down on the desk. This was the most honest she had been with someone that wasn't Rachel or Sam since she was a child.

"Well everyone knows now and I think the same thing will happen again. You are just going to have to tough it out in regards to the people who can't accept you. They aren't worth your time."

Quinn nodded, showing that the message had gotten through at the same time as her home room teacher, Schuester, barged in with his eyes alight and fully focused on the ginger woman. When he realised he had interrupted something he took a few steps back, muttering apologies.

"Its OK Mr Schuester, I think we're done...I feel good." Quinn said standing up and directing the last part to Emma who nodded her agreement.

She wondered if it was possible for the day to get any weirder as she walked past the over excited teacher and strolled down the empty hallways towards her locker.

The answer was it could get weirder as she spotted Sugar leaning on her locker whistling something out of tune to herself. As she got closer Sugar saw her and stood up straight.

"Hey Charlie, I wondered when you were going to turn up, I've been waiting here for the past 20 minutes."

"Yeah, sorry about that. What's up?" Quinn responded not wanting to explain where she had been and Sugar kindly let it slide.

"I overhead that Tina was going to invite you to our celibacy club meeting, Friday after school and I figured that you probably wouldn't like the way she was going to ask you so I decided to beat her to the punch, for your sake." Sugar explained.

"Why wouldn't I like the way she would ask?" Quinn questioned.

"She likes you and after what everyone saw in health class today, you probably don't want to let her get too close to you." Sugar answered in a way that said the fact should be obvious to her.

"Who is Tina by the way?" Even scouring through the new faces in her mind she still couldn't place the name.

"You know Ali." It was a statement but Quinn nodded anyway, "Well it's Ali's sister Harmony's best friend."

The face of an Asian girl who she had seen hanging around Harmony came into a mind but she could have sworn that girl was dating that Asian boy if the looks he was sending were anything to go by.

The bell rang as she was thinking and she silently cursed the fact she hadn't had a chance to eat yet. She was going to need all her energy for her try out that afternoon. She would just have to skip a lesson to grab some food.

That decided, she tuned back into the situation just as Sugar was walking away and called back, "You should come to the club, it'll be fun and certain people will only harass you if you don't." She mouthed the name 'Tina' behind her hand as she was talking about the Asian girl then smiled and walked off. Quinn couldn't help but smile as well.

XXXXX

The burger shack was such an unoriginal name for a burger place but Quinn didn't really mind because they did the best double bacon cheeseburgers in Lima. She went there so often that the people there always greeted her like an old friend so she was a little disappointed when she walked in and nobody said hello. Then she realised that they didn't recognise her and it made her feel a little better as she slid into a booth and pretended to look through the menu even though she knew what she was going to have.

A bubbly looking waitress came over to serve her and she nearly slipped up by asking for her usual but caught herself in time and asked for a double bacon cheeseburger and managed not to drool at the thought of the culinary delight. As the woman was walking away, Quinn looked across the seating and froze when she spotted Rachel sat in the booth next to hers and facing her. As if feeling eyes on her, Rachel looked up and after only a second realised who Quinn was.

There was only a small space between them and Rachel said without having to raise her voice, "Your Ali's friend, Charlie wasn't it?"

Her voice seemed like honey and Quinn almost forgot to answer. "Yeah, its good to see you again Mrs Fabray." Her heart leapt when Rachel didn't correct her as Kurt had the previous day.

"Shouldn't you be in school?" Rachel asked with a mischievous smile on her face showing that she understood the need to ditch school every once in a while. Quinn had been the one that always convinced Rachel to ditch school so she knew the woman was OK with it.

"Yeah well, I missed lunch and I was hungry so I thought, where better to get lunch right?" Quinn said, happily skipping over why she missed lunch however Rachel was always very perceptive.

"This is a great place but why did you skip lunch?" Rachel asked and as Quinn licked her lips to tell a lie, Rachel's eyes were drawn to the area and she gasped as she saw Quinn's split lip. She immediately got out of her booth and sat down across from Quinn, taking her face in her hand as she examined the cut.

"What happened?" Rachel asked, releasing Quinn and allowing the blonde girl to think normally again without Rachel being so close.

"You probably don't want to know." Quinn said, knowing that Rachel hated violence and was a total pacifist.

"You got into a fight didn't you?" Rachel asked and knew she was right when Quinn gave her a sheepish look. "I'll have to talk to your father about this." Rachel muttered to herself shaking her head at the girl's antics.

"He already knows." Quinn replied as the waitress brought over both their meals and set them down on the same table before rushing away again. Quinn took a huge bite, completely starving as Rachel looked on in slight disgust.

"How can you eat that knowing it was once a defenceless animal?" Rachel asked taking a delicate bite of her salad.

"The BBQ sauce helps it slide right down." Quinn joked as she took another huge bite.

"Well I will stick to my salad with a side order of clear conscience thank you very much Charlie."

"Free country Mrs Fabray." Quinn replied with a smirk.

"Call me Rachel." Quinn couldn't keep the smile off her face.

XXXXX

Being nervous was not something that Quinn was used to but as she stood at centre court once again dressed in her PE outfit she couldn't help but panic a little. This was really important to her and she didn't want to mess it up. If she got onto the basketball team she would be able to stop anyone bullying Ali and she would also be able to protect herself from the abuse people would hurl at her for her differences.

"Think fast." A familiar voice called from behind her and she turned and caught the flying basketball before it could hit her in the face. Ali had just walked in and had thrown the ball at her but she wasn't alone.

A guy about three inches shorter than her with black hair and carrying a tray of water bottles was walking along next to Ali and when he got close enough he gave her a small wave nearly dropping the tray in the process.

"Hey careful there." Quinn said, quickly reaching out a steadying hand and gave the boy a friendly smile.

"Charlie this is Rory, he's the water boy for the team." Ali explained.

"Nice to meet you." Rory said with a strong Irish accent and when Quinn gave him a questioning look he continued, "I'm an exchange student."

"From where?" Quinn asked jokingly.

"Japan." Rory replied deadpan and Quinn couldn't help but laugh, finding herself liking the small boy already.

Coach Sylvester chose that moment to walk in followed by two tall, well muscled girls who looked like they were also trying out for the team.

"What are you doing here Fabray?" Coach called from the other end of the room and Quinn turned around in a panic wondering how she had been found out when she noticed that the older woman was talking to Ali.

"Just giving some moral support Coach." Ali responded, punching Quinn lightly on the shoulder.

"Well give your support from the bleachers, I've got try-outs to run." Coach said wheeling the stack of basketballs to the three pointer line. Ali just nodded and took Rory off to sit on the sidelines.

"Good luck." Rory shouted when he was seated and Ali just reclined against the seats casually and gave her a double thumbs up.

"Can it, Irish!" Coach yelled but Quinn could see the amusement flickering in her eyes and realised that the Coach was probably fond of the boy as most people seemed to be. There had to be a reason why she had given him the water boy position after all. It helped anyone's popularity to be associated with a winning team, even in such a menial capacity.

"Alright ladies, first off...100 suicides, NOW!" Coach screamed and the three girls trying out scrambled to the starting position and started running.

Quinn finished first with the other two finishing about 30 seconds after her looking considerably more worn out. The Coach gave her a small nod as she waited for the others to finish and as soon as they were done Coach started screaming again.

"Fabray, get your ass down here for a game of two on two."

Ali looked like she had just been told Christmas had come early and she raced to join Quinn, high fiving her as she came to stand by her side. Coach blew her whistle and the two blonde girls automatically fell into position as if they had been playing together their whole lives and in reality they had but only Quinn knew that. As soon as Ali had been able to hold her own head up, Quinn had made sure there was a tiny basketball in her hands.

The ball got thrown to her first from the Coach and as the two girls on the opposing team were complaining about the unfairness, she dribbled past them and passed to Ali who had crept past them on the other side and she slam dunked the ball.

They bumped fists as they ran back to the starting position and scored again this time after a fumble between their opponents. About 50 points later the Coach called an end to the game and with a gleam in her eye said, "I don't think it really needs to be said who should be turning up for practice tomorrow morning but just to make it clear, Evans' face is the only face I want to see at dawn."

With that she walked away and the two sweaty girls followed glaring at the new member of the basketball team whilst Ali pulled her into a hug and Rory ran down the bleachers and patted her on the back.

Quinn was so overjoyed that she had made it that she didn't think twice before pulling Rory in and making it a group hug. She just laughed as they pulled apart but her smile suddenly dimmed a little.

"What's wrong Charlie?" Rory asked with worry on his face.

"I have to wake up at dawn?" She questioned, wincing a little at the prospect.

"Hey don't worry about it, you'll get used to it and by the way I think I know what will make you feel better." Ali said letting the tension build. Quinn gave her a 'get on with it' look and she continued, "Tonight we are going to celebrate!"

**A/N: So how do you think they are going to celebrate? Tell me what you want to see and I'll try and include it. **


	5. Live A Little

"Maybe we should watch a marathon of The Simpsons, that would be amazing." Rory said with a happy smile on his face at the prospect. Quinn was about to laugh at the suggestion until she realised that he was being serious and tried to make her face neutral.

"I think we are looking for something a bit more exciting than staying in and watching TV all night." Quinn explained to him and he bobbed his head up and down in understanding then looked thoughtful as he tried to come up with another idea.

"It was your suggestion Al, surely you have some idea of what we should do?" Quinn questioned.

"I just said we should celebrate, I didn't say I knew how we should celebrate." Ali responded as she walked towards the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water then got some cookies out of the cupboard and sat back down.

They had come back to Quinn's house after the try out and had spent the last half an hour sitting in her kitchen with absolutely no idea what they should do. It was starting to become a bit of a drag but Quinn was at least glad that Sam had decided to stay upstairs because she wasn't sure how well they could pull off the Father-Daughter relationship in front of people for a prolonged period of time.

Of course she had spoken too soon as she spotted a shaggy blonde head stick around the door to the kitchen with a lopsided grin. "Hello, my daughter's friends." The rest of his body then appeared complete with a t-shirt with Spock on it and Quinn tried her hardest not to face palm at the lameness of it.

"Hi Mr Evans." Rory said politely with his eyes lighting up at the sight of Sam's t-shirt and wondering where he could get one.

"Please call me Sam." Sam replied with a smile before coming up behind Ali, putting her in a headlock and continuing, "But you Al-Star can call me Uncle Sam as always."

"I don't know Uncle Sam sounds kind of stupid, I would rather call you Sammy." Ali said then elbowed him in the gut to get him to release her. The manoeuvre worked and he stumbled a few steps back allowing Ali to go back to eating all the cookies.

"Sammy is fine." Sam consented in a strained voice as he rubbed his rapidly bruising stomach.

"How about a taco eating contest, I saw all the stuff we would need in the cupboard." Ali suggested getting back to the issue at hand.

"I don't know what you guys are talking about but I am not spending my evening cleaning up teenager's barf from off of my kitchen floor." Sam said in his adult voice but the impact was lost as he slipped slightly on his way to the fridge. Grinning at his own clumsiness, he grabbed a beer then turned to face the three teenagers and asked, "Why are you discussing destroying my kitchen?"

"I made the team today and we want to celebrate." Quinn said smiling as the blonde man flung himself at her and pulled her into a huge hug.

"I am so proud of you." He whispered in her ear.

"Thanks Dad." She replied as they pulled apart.

"Well I know its no taco eating contest but I might have an idea on how you can celebrate." Sam smiled as he grabbed his keys and motioned for them to follow him out to his car.

XXXXX

"This isn't exactly what we had in mind Sammy." Ali said whilst peering out of the back window at the building looming in front of them.

"Yeah and it looks really busy." Rory observed, gesturing at the almost full car park.

"Not to mention boring." Quinn added finally.

"You guys are being ridiculous, this place is awesome." Sam replied as he got out of the car and started walking to the entrance.

"I don't even get why you would want to come here anyway. You suck at bowling." Quinn reminded him when the trio had caught up to him.

"Its not just about the bowling. There is an arcade and hot dogs and a big screen TV in the bar. Not to mention nachos." Sam's eyes were glowing as he spoke and he led them into the incredibly busy bowling alley.

Quinn should have realised that any suggestion that Sam gave would have been lame because he was in every definition of the word, a nerd. However she did know how to make the best out of a bad situation and when Sam had said the word bar, her mind had automatically started racing with ideas on how to liven up their night.

"Lane for four." Sam asked the harassed looking woman behind the counter who gave him a sceptical look.

"You wish, we are all full except for the reservations." She explained as she continued tapping something into the computer.

"Ah, you see we have a reservation under Mr Franklin and company." Sam said in his smoothest voice as he dropped about five hundred bucks onto the keyboard of her computer.

The woman stopped what she was doing, picked up the money and placed it back in front of him, then responded with a fake smile, "Sorry Mr Franklin we're still full." Her smile dropped and was replaced with a no nonsense look that Sam gulped at. "If you want to take a seat I may be able to get you a lane shortly." Her voice was filled with fake politeness and Sam nodded before they all slowly stepped away before the woman snapped. "Though I wouldn't count on it." She murmured as they walked away.

They took a seat in the waiting area and Sam stood in front of them and clapped his hands together with an excited look on his face.

"OK guys the party starts, we can hit the arcade first then we can order some dogs." He said gesturing to the room to the left of them, filled with 10 year old boys. Rory immediately followed him but Ali and Quinn sat where they were with incredulous looks on their faces.

"Bar?" Quinn questioned and Ali just nodded before following the taller blonde in the opposite direction to the boys.

They sat down on two bar stools and praised the god of bars that a basketball game was currently showing on the big screen TV on the wall.

"What can I get you girls?" A bartender with his shirt unbuttoned too low for a bowling alley bar and a stupid looking Mohawk asked.

"Two beers." Quinn said straight away and the man nodded and had the glasses in front of them in thirty seconds. Quinn dove straight in, draining half the glass in one long gulp.

Ali only took tentative sips as she murmured to Quinn, "Why do you think he didn't ask for ID?"

Before Quinn could answer the man turned to face them and answered, "This place has been rented out for an 18th birthday party and I have been paid to just serve drinks and not ask questions."

"I'll drink to that." Quinn called and downed the rest of her drink then slammed the glass down on the counter. Taking the hint, the man got her a refill and she added, "Oh and can you give the bill for our drinks to Sam Evans?"

"The birthday girl has paid for an open bar." The bartender said.

"Send it to him anyway for me would you...?" Quinn trailed off asking for his name.

"Puck and I sure can." He grinned at her then took Sam's details before walking off to serve a nervous looking teenager who simply asked for alcohol. Quinn laughed at the request and Ali looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Are you drunk already?" Ali asked cautiously.

"No but I am ecstatic. I can just get drunk and not have to worry about anything and I cannot tell you how long it has been since I have just been able to let go. The feeling is intoxicating." Quinn explained.

"You said too many big words in there so I have to believe you." Ali said and Quinn noticed she was still only sipping on her beer. Though she didn't exactly like the idea of her daughter getting drunk, she knew that Ali was safe with her here and that Sam would get them both home safely so she couldn't see the harm in blowing off a little steam.

"Chug the beer Ali." Quinn commanded and seeing the question in her daughter's eyes decided to lead by example and downed her glass in a couple of seconds. When she had finished she noticed that Ali had not taken her lead.

"Didn't realise you were such an alcoholic Charlie." Ali joked, trying to take the pressure off herself a little bit.

"Let loose and live a little Al." Quinn said. Ali looked like she was about to decline again when she suddenly spotted a very familiar person over Quinn's shoulder and her eyes widened in panic. Sugar walked up to the bar, ordered some drinks and then innocently flirted with Puck for a bit whilst he got her order before turning to leave with a tray of alcohol. Just as she turned she spotted the two blonde girls sitting at the bar with the shorter of the two looking like she wanted to disappear.

"Hey guys, I guess I should have expected to see you here." Sugar said standing so her hip was bumping against Ali's side. Ali looked like she had stopped breathing.

"Why's that?" Quinn asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Because its Tina's birthday party and I should have guessed that she would have invited you." Sugar explained and Quinn nodded her head in understanding, recalling their conversation from the hallway earlier that day.

"Oh right. She didn't invite us though, we didn't even know she was having a party. Its a awesome coincidence though because it means we can get served." Quinn replied, gesturing to the bar behind her.

"I can't imagine Ali getting drunk. She's too innocent for that." Sugar said smiling down at the girl in question clearly meaning it to be a compliment. At that moment a random girl called to Sugar and she walked off with a quick goodbye thrown over her shoulder. Quinn gave her a little wave then turned to Ali as she finally chugged her beer. Quinn looked at the girl with a question in her eyes.

"I'm not too innocent." Was her muttered statement in response as her eyes were drawn to the area where Sugar had just stood. The sentence was loaded with what she was really feeling, the utmost being that she didn't want Sugar to think of her as an innocent, younger sister. Knowing that just losing control was good for people occasionally Quinn turned and gestured to Puck to get his attention and shouted. "Two shots of Vodka and two more beers please."

"You got it pretty ladies." Puck said as he poured the drinks and slid the four glasses in front of them.

"I have to admit, he does seem good at his job despite his flirting." Quinn said regarding the speed he had gotten the order out. "If I was straight I would totally do you." Quinn then announced to the bartender who looked a little crestfallen at the blonde's confession about her sexuality but then then smirked and muttered, "Hot!" before turning away again.

When Quinn's attention once again was turned to Ali she noticed that the younger girl had already finished off her beer so she raised her shot and toasted, "To less innocence!" before they both downed the alcohol.

It was about five more beers and four more shots that Quinn got up to go to the bathroom and finally had to admit that she was drunk. She would have stayed in denial had it not been for the table that got in her way. If Ali hadn't been even more drunk than Quinn she may have mentioned that Quinn was walking the wrong way for the bathroom but was too busy trying to stay conscious to mention it.

Before she knew it she had stumbled into a large group of equally intoxicated teenagers who were dancing to the beat pumping from two large speakers set against the far wall. There were a couple of people bowling but it looked like they had rented the lanes just so they could have somewhere comfortable as they made out in the seats.

She was now positive that she was going to throw up, especially if the room didn't stop spinning, so she grabbed onto the nearest thing which just so happened to be another bar.

Half way through the drunken thought, _I bet more alcohol will make me feel less nauseous,_ a person bumped into her back and she had to catch herself on the bar. It was a significant feat considering just how drunk she was and turned around to share her achievement with the person when she realised it was Harmony.

"Hey Harm, I didn't realise you were at this party." Quinn smiled happily, glad that she had two of her three favourite girls with her.

"Uh yeah...Tina's my best friend." Harmony said as if it should be obvious.

"Well its so awesome that your here because I really wanted to talk to you." Quinn said excitedly and sat down on a barstool, pulling Harmony down on the one opposite her. Her head started to spin and she found herself grasping onto her daughter to prevent her from falling but she quickly let go when Harmony coughed awkwardly.

"Sorry, I was dizzy." Quinn explained closing her eyes in an attempt to stop the world spinning once and for all.

"Been enjoying the open bar have you?" Harmony asked lightly.

"No, I wasn't invited so I made sure we paid for our own stuff." Quinn said opening her eyes to look into deep brown ones.

"Who's we?" Harmony asked suspiciously, looking back in the direction Quinn had wandered from.

"Me and Ali." Quinn answered.

"What the hell Charlie! You brought my baby sister here, got her drunk and then left her?" Harmony asked in outrage, already walking away to find her sister.

"It was her own decision and Puck will look after her."

"Who the hell is Puck?" She was doing the storm out that Rachel had perfected so many years ago but even in her inebriated state Quinn was well aware of how to handle it. She reached out a hand and grabbed Harmony by the elbow, spinning her into Quinn and knocking them both back into the bar. They righted themselves immediately and Quinn quickly said, "Harmony she is fine. I just need to tell you something." Harmony rolled her hand impatiently, telling Quinn to get it over with and she continued, "I don't think you should be with Joe. He doesn't treat you right and you deserve better than that."

Harmony got a really weird look in her eyes and then turned away and said, "I think we should go find Ali now." Quinn nodded though Harmony couldn't see her and followed the short brunette out of the room.

She couldn't help but be pleased that she finally told Harmony what she thought of Joe and also that Harmony cared so much about Ali's well being. It really warmed her heart. As she continued to stumble after Harmony her vision was directed down to the hooker length skirt that her daughter was wearing. In reality it was no shorter than the ones that Rachel had worn in high school and Quinn was one of the many people that very much appreciated them but seeing it on her baby girl made her feel even more sick than before.

Just as they were about to turn the corner into the room that Ali was in Harmony spun around and pointed her finger into Quinn's chest and threatened, "If anything has happened to her I will personally kick you in the nuts." Quinn winced at the prospect and Harmony tacked on as an afterthought, "And stop staring at my ass." Before Quinn had time to correct her that she was very definitely not staring at her ass, the girl had spun away and the violent movement once again had Quinn looking for the bathroom.

She pulled herself together and walked into the bar to see Ali unconscious with her head resting on the bar and Harmony full on ranting at Puck who looked like he wanted to disappear or gag the obnoxious brunette, whichever would bring him relief the fastest.

He looked like he was about to carry out the latter option when Sam and Rory took the very opportune moment to show up.

"Why hello there my harmonic little Fabray." Sam's enthusiastic voice cut across Harmony's rant and Puck shot the blonde man a relieved look before turning away to serve some customers.

"What are you doing here Uncle Sam?" Harmony asked, diverting all attention to the older man as Quinn slid passed her and sat on the barstool next to Ali then proceeded to mirror her position.

"We are celebrating!"

"You let them get drunk?" She asked incredulously. Sam had known Rachel for a long time and had known Harmony her whole life and therefore was fully aware of the penchant for dramatics. He knew how to nip it in the bud.

"How but I take all four of you home?" It appeased Harmony as he had hoped but it drew their attention to a new problem. Ali was stone cold out and they needed to get her to the car.

"Uncle Sam or Ricky, one of you can carry her." Harmony ordered.

"My name is Rory."

"She is too heavy for me to carry."

"And she is bigger than me, unless you want to see an Irish boy break his back I can't do it."

"Plus I have fragile bones."

Quinn was starting to get a headache from the excuses and she was starting to feel less dizzy and sick so she made a drunken, spur of the moment decision.

"I got her just please stop talking. I mean damn you guys you make me wish I was unconscious." Quinn muttered standing up, bending over and picking up Ali's dead weight in a fireman's lift. Once again she saw something in Harmony's eyes but with Ali over her shoulder her concentration was pretty much diverted elsewhere.

They made it to the car with no tragedies and Quinn and Rory sat in the back seat with Ali propped up in between them occasionally making the odd noise. Rory was the first to be dropped of and as Ali had started making noises that sounded vaguely like retching he had happily ran from the car shouting, "See you tomorrow," over his shoulder.

When they pulled up outside the Fabray residence, Sam pulled the car to a halt and turned around in his seat to face Quinn as he said, "Everybody out and yes that includes you my beloved daughter."

"Why and where am I supposed to go?" Quinn asked shocked at Sam's instructions.

"There is no chance I am taking you back to puke all over my house Charlie. You can stay with your drinking buddy tonight."

Ali's retching noises began to get more distinct and so Sam ushered them out before Quinn had a chance to dispute his decision and then drove off once Quinn had Ali securely over her shoulder again. Harmony sighed loudly then led her way up to the darkened house where she knocked on the front door, wincing already at the knowledge that coming home at 2 in the morning was going to get her grounded.

The porch light clicked on and the door opened to reveal Rachel in a white silk dressing gown scowling at the three girls on the porch. The thought that she looked like an angel briefly flew across Quinn's mind before Rachel started shouting.

"Where have you been?" Rachel asked with equal parts anger, sadness and worry.

"We were at a party and lost track of time." Harmony answered honestly.

"Have you been drinking?"

Harmony shook her head in the negative but Ali chose that exact moment to come back to the world of the conscious and was violently sick all down Quinn's back and over the concrete steps of the porch. The two brunettes winced at the noise whilst Quinn just tried to keep her face impassive as the warm sensation swam down her back.

Once Ali had emptied herself and started groaning, Quinn asked, "May I please use your bathroom?"

She was far more articulate than her drunken state should have allowed but being puked on really sobers a person up. Rachel nodded automatically at the request and ushered Quinn into the bathroom where she proceeded to unceremoniously dump Ali into the bath tub.

"I'll go and get you a shirt to change into." Rachel said once she saw Ali was safe for the time being.

"Uh Mrs Fabray, my Dad said he wouldn't take me home when I'm drunk so can I stay here with Ali tonight?" Quinn asked trying very hard not to focus on the feeling of the sludge trickling down her back. She guessed it was some kind of karma for getting her daughter drunk.

"Of course you can and I told you to call me Rachel." She said as she smiled and then rushed from the room to find some clothes.

Quinn needed to clean herself up and so grabbed a towel off the side which had been hers when she lived there, took off her shirt and wiped away the mess on her back. As she was finishing, Ali cracked open an eye and squinted up at her.

"Screw you Evans." Was all she said before she turned over and fell asleep, snoring lightly. Quinn couldn't help but chuckle a little and she turned as she heard Rachel come back into the room.

The smaller woman stopped at the sight of Quinn's exposed and toned upper body but she quickly recovered and carried on walking, handing her over a short sleeved, v neck t-shirt and a pair of sweats that belonged to her.

"They used to belong to my wife and you are about her size so I thought they might fit you better than any of my clothes." Rachel explained and Quinn thanked her as she slipped the clothes on, then turned around to see Rachel politely looking away and busying herself with Quinn's used towel. Clearing her throat to tell Rachel it was OK to look she said, "I guess I'll stay in Ali's room if she using the tub as her bed tonight?" It was a question and Rachel nodded her agreement so Quinn began to walk out but stopped just shy of the door and turned back.

"Thank you for letting me stay here Rachel." She turned and left without another word.

XXXXX

Quinn had been led in the darkness of Ali's bedroom for only about five minutes when she heard the door slowly creaking open. There was a little light from the moon coming in through the thin curtains and Quinn could just about make out the outline of either Harmony or Rachel.

It wasn't until the person had crawled up onto the bed and was straddling Quinn's hips that she realised that it was Rachel. She was wearing a tank top and shorts which clung to her body, giving Quinn a pretty good view of everything.

She sat up with Rachel on top of her and asked in a whisper, "Rachel, what are you...?" Her question was cut off by a very familiar pair of lips pressed against hers and she moaned as Rachel licked her lips and gently pushed her back down onto the bed.

Always one to press her advantage, Quinn quickly flipped them over so that her body was fully pressed against Rachel's and let her hands trail down to grab Rachel by the hips. She felt Rachel moan into her mouth as she started rubbing her fingers over the soft flesh and the brunette lifted her hips to grind into Quinn.

Quinn was losing control fast and knew that she should stop this because it was wrong. Rachel didn't know that it was her wife she was currently dry humping, she thought it was her daughter's best friend.

"Quinn, I need you inside me." Rachel moaned and that was it for Quinn's self control as she trailed her fingers along the waistband of Rachel's shorts before pulling them down and...

She fell out of bed when she heard the sudden blaring of the time warp in her ear. Her eyes shot open to find the source of the commotion to see Ali's alarm clock flashing and she flailed her hand to stop the noise.

"Damn it." She muttered as the realisation that it was a dream hit her and she tried to get back to sleep to see if she could continue on with the wonderful dream. The voice of Rachel in the hallway thwarted her efforts as she called for all of them to wake up. Quinn did briefly consider ignoring her but the smell of bacon was wafting from the kitchen and that was a call she could not refuse.

Despite the promise of bacon, Quinn couldn't help but be grumpy though in hindsight she probably should have realised that it was a dream not only because Rachel wasn't interested in her like that but also because she had called her Quinn.

She threw the covers back and went searching through Ali's drawers in an attempt to find clothes she could wear, knowing that she wouldn't be able to get back to her house before school. Finding jeans and a t-shirt that just about fit her she went in search of the source of the beautiful smell.

The sight that greeted her when she walked into the kitchen stopped her dead in her tracks. Rachel was by the stove in an adorable frilly pink apron, with the radio on and dancing to the music. Her back was turned so Quinn took the opportunity to watch her so happy and filled with life. She also couldn't help but stare at her ass a little. It was when Rachel spun around whilst dancing that she was caught.

"Oh Charlie I didn't know you were there." She said blushing slightly.

"You shouldn't be embarrassed, you are an amazing dancer Rachel." Quinn complemented her and was rewarded with what she had named the patented Rachel Berry smile.

"Well that's very sweet of you to say. Seeing as you are the first one up and dressed, would you mind getting Ali out of the bathtub for me?" Rachel asked turning back to the breakfast and completely ignoring the oddness of the request.

"Of course." Quinn said walking over to a cupboard, getting a glass, filling it with water and walking towards the bathroom.

Ali was pretty much in the exact position she had been left in the night before except Rachel had draped a large towel across their drunken daughter's sleeping form. Taking time only to acknowledge the puddle of drool forming underneath the blonde's mouth for future blackmail material, Quinn proceeded to dump the glass of water over Ali's face making her shoot up, shaking her head like a dog and flicking water everywhere.

"What the hell Charlie!" Ali shouted in outrage before clutching her head and wincing at the sound of her own voice. Quinn knew she was enjoying herself too much but didn't care as she bent down to whisper in Ali's ear.

"You know what you are experiencing right now?" Ali nodded but didn't speak so Quinn took the liberty of shouting the answer in her ear, "A hangover." Ali clawed at Quinn's face but she quickly ducked out of the way and just before she left the bathroom she turned back and said, "Breakfast is ready and we need to be at practice soon."

Even down the hallway she could hear the Ali cursing her in muted tones so as not to upset her headache further. When she walked back into the kitchen Harmony was sat at the breakfast counter with some sort of fruit salad which she was picking at and she looked shocked to see her walk in before realisation dawned on her.

"Good morning Harmony." Quinn said politely and also happily due to the fun she had just had at Ali's expense.

"Morning." She replied civilly but didn't make eye contact with her.

"Do you think that Ali will want breakfast?" Rachel asked turning around to face Quinn with two large plates of bacon and eggs. Her mouth started watering and she struggled to concentrate as she responded, "I think she just needs some coffee. Her hangover is pretty bad."

Rachel could see how desperately Quinn wanted her plate so relented and handed her a plate which she eagerly took with an adorable lopsided grin and sat down opposite Harmony. Rachel was about to go and look for Ali when she stumbled in through the doorway looking haggard then collapsed into the chair next to Quinn and leant her head on her hands.

"How are you doing honey?" Rachel asked rubbing Ali's back.

"I feel awful momma." Ali muttered pathetically.

"Well that will teach you not to drink next time." Rachel said giving her a light clip around the ear as she went to make her a cup of coffee.

"Come on eat up or I'll eat it for you." Quinn said having nearly finished her plate and looking at Ali's hungrily.

"How come you aren't hung over Evans?" Ali asked glaring at Quinn.

"I am Fabray, I just handle it better than you. Its not my first time." Quinn responded snagging a piece of bacon of Ali's plate when she wasn't looking.

Rachel came over after that with a coffee for Ali and a second plate for Quinn and Quinn seriously felt like kissing her. She restrained herself but her dream was still vivid in her mind and was not helping.

After about three cups of coffee Ali was finally feeling sober enough to get changed and ten minutes later they were ready to go to school with Harmony having to drive them seeing as Quinn didn't have her car.

The other two had left the house but Quinn turned back at the last minute and said, "Thanks for breakfast Rachel, it was delicious."

The smile she got from the beautiful woman was totally worth it.

XXXXX

This really wasn't the first impression Quinn wanted to make at her first full team practice. She could handle her alcohol well and so she definitely wouldn't have classed herself as massively hungover but she still wasn't in peak shape and so was not impressing the team and she certainly wasn't impressing her new captain.

Her name was Lauren and she was a rather large girl with glasses and a bad attitude. Quinn had yet to see her play but she was having some serious doubts as to her effectiveness at outrunning the other team or doing jump shots.

It wasn't until the Coach split the team in two for a mini game and she was put up against Lauren that she realised the benefits that the larger girl could bring. Quinn couldn't see the game around the girl and so when the ball was passed, Lauren quickly intercepted it.

At the end of the hour Quinn felt like she needed to collapse with the alcohol still in her system and only getting about four hours sleep the night before. If she hadn't been hungover before she certainly felt like she was now. Ali was doing far worse than her and had actually had to run off the court at one point to throw up in the bathroom. She did come out looking slightly better as she had detoxed herself some what so that was a plus point.

When the Coach blew the whistle to tell them to go shower and change, Quinn and Ali sagged against each other in relief but then Coach called Quinn over and Ali went into the changing rooms.

"What's up Coach?" Quinn asked trying to work some enthusiasm into her voice.

Sue didn't look up from her clipboard as she spoke. "I understand the need to celebrate however I don't appreciate it when it interferes with my practices. Make sure it doesn't happen again." Quinn simply nodded her head in understanding before following the rest of the girls.

She walked into the changing rooms and that was when Quinn realised an issue that her exhausted body could not handle. She had to take a shower and she couldn't do it with the other girls there without them seeing her equipment. They all knew about it as the rumour of what Quinn had in her pants had flown across the school in record time but she still didn't want everyone staring.

Eventually she simply decided to shower when everyone left and risk being late to home room. Schuester seemed to be enthralled by her so she thought she could probably get away with it.

"See you later Charlie." Ali called before leaving the changing room which effectively woke Quinn up from where she had been dozing on a bench.

The warm water beckoned her tired muscles and she quickly got under the warm spray and just stayed there and let it soothe her. She lost track of time and when she finally got changed and made it back out into the hallways, she was 10 minutes late for home room.

She casually wandered to the room and walked in to have the whole class turn to look at her and have Mr Schuester give her a stern look. He spoiled it though when he gave her a smile a few seconds later and said, "I heard you got onto the basketball team, congratulations Charlie. Try to be here on time in future."

A charming smile back at him and a few seconds later she was sat in her seat at the back of the room, resting her eyes. A paper ball smacked her in the face and she assumed Joe was the culprit so she stuck her middle finger up in his direction and left it at that. Thankfully Schuester hadn't seen it or she probably would have gotten extra detention on top of her week's worth for fighting Joe.

XXXXX

Detention was not what she imagined it to be. It started an hour after school to accommodate any clubs, much to Quinn's chagrin as she now had no excuse not to go to Celibacy club after school the following day. After waiting an hour she finally got to go into an empty classroom and waited another hour to go home with nothing but a random teacher reading a magazine to keep her entertained.

About ten minutes in the door slammed open and Puck swaggered in through the doorway and took a seat next to Quinn.

"S'up Evans." Puck nodded to her.

"Nothin' much man." Quinn replied still a little shocked that he went to the same school as her. He looked older so she had assumed he had finished High School.

"Mr Puckerman, try to be on time in the future." It seemed to be the party line at the school and the teacher delivered it without even looking up and Puck just ignored him.

"I didn't know you went to this school. You look too old to even be a senior." Quinn stated.

"I am a senior this just isn't my first year of being a senior and I doubt it will be my last." Puck responded with a careless shrug of his shoulders.

"How come?" Quinn asked. She didn't think he was an idiot so wondered why he had to repeat a year.

"I've found what I want to do with my life and I can't see the point in wasting time coming to school when I could be doing what I love." Puck said matter of factly.

"Your dream is being a bartender?" She asked looking at him as if he were crazy.

"No. I have a band and we are going to go to California and make it big." Puck said.

"Well if you graduated this year you would be able to go sooner wouldn't you?" Quinn questioned.

Puck just shrugged his shoulders again in response.

They fell into a comfortable silence after that, chatting occasionally about anything random and the teacher didn't seem to care if they were silent or not. Finally the balding teacher checked his watch and announced that they could go home much to the relief of all three of them.

Just as they split ways outside, Puck turned back to her and said, "You should come to watch our band. We play in a bar called The Basement just outside of the town limits."

"That could be cool but with you in the band I doubt it would be anything worth hearing." Quinn joked.

"I am a guitar god actually and we're playing Saturday night. See you Evans." Puck said walking off with a wave.

"Later Puckerman." Quinn replied distractedly, already planning out her weekend.

**A/N: Next chapter we have the celibacy club, more basketball, The Basement and of course more Faberry! We can also have more Ali/Sugar if you guys want it. Let me know...**


	6. You Are Still Married

**A/N: I'm glad that you are all enjoying the story. I just wanted to apologize for the slow updates and to say that updates will probably be even less frequent for a little while as I have exams coming up. **

**Now on with the story...**

The look on her face at that moment would probably be considered the same look that a stalker wears when they see the object of their attention but Quinn didn't really care what other people thought. She just had a smug grin on her face at the sight in front of her.

To be honest she was practically beaming when she walked into the room where the celibacy club meeting was being held and spotted Harmony chatting to a group of girls in the corner.

It surely meant that she wasn't sleeping with Joe despite his comments in health class the other day and she suddenly felt a lot better about agreeing to come. In the true spirit of friendship she had also managed to get Ali and Rory to come and they were stood awkwardly on either side of her in the doorway.

As soon as Sugar spotted them she practically ran over to them, instantly ignoring the girl she had been talking to, and launched herself into Quinn to give her a hug. It was a shock but Quinn managed to catch the girl before she barrelled them both over and just as she caught her balance, Sugar was gone and had launched herself into Ali's arms.

Ali wasn't as quick and was propelled back into the door frame with Sugar in her arms. They stayed leaned against the frame for a few moments just looking at each other before they pulled away with Ali looking uncomfortable. Sugar appeared undisturbed and ruffled Rory's hair before coming to stand in front of the three of them.

"I'm so glad you guys could come, its going to be so much more fun than usual." She squealed a little in her excitement then turned to talk to someone else.

"OK if everyone can take their seats we can begin." Harmony called to the group, standing at the front of the class.

"She is the President of this club." Ali explained looking a little put out that she was going to have to spend an hour longer than normal taking orders from her overbearing older sister. Quinn nodded in understanding as Harmony started talking again.

"We will split up for the first half an hour then join back together for the second half." At her words the boys in the room got up and started to walk out and seeing the confusion on the new members faces, Harmony clarified, "Charlie and Ricky you need to follow the boys."

"Wait, I thought you were splitting us boys and girls?" Quinn asked, standing nonetheless.

"Yes we are and I think you would be more comfortable in that group seeing as the subject is sex and how to abstain. It is relevant for certain body parts." Harmony explained, not quite making eye contact with Quinn.

She couldn't really argue with her logic and feeling slightly embarrassed having to talk about her genitals with her daughter, she decided to follow without hesitation.

The boys just walked into the classroom next door and spread themselves on the various desks around the room, a stark comparison to the organised group Harmony had moulded the girls into.

"How we doing this week guys?" A tall, beefy looking guy asked as he took a seat on top of the teacher's desk. There was mumblings of good from around the room and then he turned to look at Quinn and Rory who were still stood in the doorway.

"My name is David Karofsky but you can call me Dave. I know this is a little awkward but I think we are all working in the same situation so lets just talk." Dave said gently mostly talking to Quinn.

"Is it true about what you got in your pants?" An Asian boy that she was sure was called Mike, asked.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" Quinn asked taking a seat and propping her legs up on a desk then leaning her head back into her hands. She was trying to act more confident than she was and Mike seemed to sense that.

"Its cool man, we don't judge. I was just curious." Mike responded with honesty.

"Can we talk about girls now?" A creepy white boy with an afro asked.

"Sure, what do you want to say Jacob?" Dave asked politely. The thought briefly crossed Quinn's mind that she had never met a person in her life that fit the description of a gentle giant more than this boy. The thought slipped from her mind as she suddenly felt a blinding anger and had to struggle to contain herself as Jacob spoke.

"Harmony is so wanky." Four words was all he spoke but the mental images of what he said came so quickly and Quinn felt sick.

The blonde lunged for the small boy with a growl but Dave, moving at a speed that seemed unrealistic for a boy his size, stepped in front of her and wrapped his arms around her body immediately immobilizing her.

Jacob had curled into a little ball on top of the desk he had been sat on whilst Mike awkwardly patted his back in an attempt to comfort the distressed boy.

A large black kid who was sat at the back of the class just started laughing at the scene unfolding before him and Dave turned to give him an exasperated look and said, "Az your not helping."

"I'm enjoying myself. I always wanted to see Jewfro get his ass kicked but I've never been able to bring myself to do it cause he looks too much like a girl. Let Evans go and lets see what she does." The boy she knew to be called Azimio replied.

Quinn had now calmed down as long as she didn't look Jacob in the eye and was still in Dave's arms as she said, "I'm not an animal that you can just let loose to cause carnage for your entertainment."

Seeing that she was sufficiently calm Dave let her go as Azimio stood up and took a few slow steps to come and face her. When he got close the height difference was painfully obvious and she knew that if he wanted to crush her, he could in a heartbeat. From his earlier statement he seemed like he didn't like hitting girls and she drew some courage from that as she lifted her chin and tried to stare him down.

There was a staring contest between the two for a few tense moments and there was silence in the class room as the others looked on in fascinated horror. Rory looked like he wanted to run a get a teacher to save Quinn but couldn't tear his eyes away from where everyone was sure there would be a smack down.

After the few tense moments, Azimio started to smirk and said, "Your OK Evans." He then turned and went back to his seat and Quinn breathed a sigh of relief. She was fairly sure she could get a punch in if they had fought but she would probably end up going to the hospital whereas the worst he would have is a split lip.

Quinn went back to sit down next to Rory who slapped her on the back in admiration. She ruffled his hair before they started listening to Dave who was talking them through ways they could, 'abstain but not go insane.'

XXXXX

The pain in Ali's eyes was obvious when they went back in to join the girls when it was time. In fact everyone looked like they were in pain.

"She gave us a speech the whole time. I think she just likes to hear her own voice." Ali whispered in Quinn's ear as she sat down and Quinn only nodded in response not wanting to bring down Harmony's wrath if she interrupted her.

"Now the boys and Charlie are back we can practice some practical abstinence." Harmony said as she moved to grab something out of the cupboard behind her.

Quinn was grateful that Harmony hadn't just grouped her in with the boys. Even if she did have a little something extra down there, she was still a girl. That was when she realised what Harmony had said but before she could comment Ali beat her to it.

"What the hell does that mean?" Ali asked trying to sound intimidating but the little squeak in her voice thwarted her efforts. Harmony sighed and then turned around, carrying pumped up balloons in her hands and gave one to each of the boys before stopping in front of Quinn with the last but one balloon with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Sorry Charlie the numbers are wrong so we will have to count you as a boy and pair you up with a girl." Harmony looked genuinely sorry so Quinn took the balloon with a smile and replied, "No worries."

"Sorry, you too Al." Harmony said bouncing the balloon off her sister's head as she passed.

"OK, so for our new members this is a little exercise in control. You pair up, put the balloons between you and then appropriately touch your partner. The aim of the game is to not burst the balloon, boys if you know what I mean?" Harmony explained and when everyone nodded but Ali she turned around and Jacob seeing Ali's confusion, crudely thrust his hips in Harmony's direction to explain what Harmony had meant.

Ali blushed whereas Quinn once again tried to lunge at the boy for even daring to violate the air around her daughter. Sugar was the one to stop her this time by sliding in front of her and putting a calming hand on her shoulder before turning to Ali and asking, "Do you want to play with me?"

Ali started spluttering and Quinn found it sufficiently distracting as she patted Ali on the back a couple of times as Sugar continued, "In this balloon game."

The blonde girl was finally able to catch her breathe but her face was still beet red and all she could manage was a small nod. Sugar beamed at the agreement and dragged her by the hand over to the other side of the room.

It was then Quinn noticed that everyone else in the room had been paired up already except for her and Harmony who had gone back over to the cupboard to lock it. When she looked up after finishing her job she seemed to notice at the same time as Quinn that they were going to have to be paired with each other. Quinn noted that she constantly found herself in situations with Harmony that seemed a little weird but she just accepted it as her own bad luck.

Harmony smiled politely at her as they got within arms reach and Quinn put the balloon between them as Harmony put her hands on Quinn's shoulders lightly and Quinn put her hands on Harmony's hips.

"OK guys just talk to your partner and keep your feelings under control." Harmony called to the group. When she turned back things quickly got awkward as there was silence between her and Quinn. Quinn took the opportunity to look around and saw Sugar as draped over Ali as she could be with a balloon between them and Ali looking like she was still unsure as to how this had happened but still loving it anyway. She also noticed Tina kept shooting longing glances at her and totally ignoring her partner, Mike.

"Tina looks unhappy." Quinn commented, trying to start conversation.

"Yeah, I think she would rather be with you. Mike probably cornered her like he always does." Harmony said looking over at her best friend.

"I'm kind of glad we weren't paired together if she likes me." Quinn said trying to speak quietly so that Tina didn't hear and have her feelings hurt but she was kind of whispering in Harmony's ear.

"Why?" Harmony asked simply.

"I'm not really interested in her." Quinn answered honestly and then pulled back when she saw Tina glaring at them probably due to their proximity to each other. She didn't want to cause an argument between the friends. Harmony's deep brown eyes were really boring into hers with intensity and it was starting to make her feel on edge. It was like the brunette was staring right into her soul and she wiggled a little from the uncomfortable feeling. All of a sudden a sharp bang rang through the room and Quinn looked down to see that it was their balloon that had popped but it definitely wasn't her that had popped it due to any lower body feelings. She looked down at her pants and noticed that it was her zip that had popped it and turned to explain that but it was too late.

"Dude keep it in your pants!" She couldn't believe she was being scolded by the pervert.

"Like you aren't doing the same being in the same room as Harmony." Rory defended her.

"It was just my zip." Quinn said to the room and that made everyone look down at her crotch to verify the truth of that. After a few mortifying seconds, everyone seemed to accept the truth just as the bell rang signalling the end of the after school activities and also signalling the start of Quinn's second day of after school detention. She practically ran from the room.

XXXXX

When she got to detention Puck was already sat in the room playing a game of solitaire and whistling something quietly. She collapsed in the seat next to him and without looking up he said, "Your late."

"The hell I am. I freaking ran here." Quinn muttered to him indignant. She didn't want to raise her voice in case the teacher found it within himself to start caring about what happened in the room.

"I know I was just messing with you. I figured you must have ran here cause you were a little out of breathe. I don't know anyone so keen to get to detention." Puck commented, finally looking up from his game with a little smirk.

"Just desperate to get away from celibacy club." Quinn said, sitting back in her chair and closing her eyes in exhaustion.

"Awkward questions?" Puck questioned with a knowing glint in his eye.

"Something like that."

Sensing that she didn't want to talk about it, Puck gathered up his cards, shuffled them and then dealt a couple of them out between the two of them.

"Poker?" Puck offered. Quinn smiled and picked up the cards, relieved for things to be so simple with at least one person in her life.

"Perfect." She responded honestly.

XXXXX

It was about 10 o'clock the following morning when Quinn parked her Audi in the driveway of Ali's house and walked up to the front door. As she knocked the thought briefly crossed her mind that Ali was probably still asleep at this time on a weekend but as Rachel pulled open the door she realised she could put the waiting time to good use.

"Oh hi Charlie, I didn't expect you to come around this early." She swung around on the door to look at a clock hanging on the wall and laughed a little, "Well, early for a teenager."

"I'm not really an ordinary teenager." Quinn stated.

Rachel just stopped and looked at her thoughtfully for a moment before she said almost to herself, "No your not." Rachel's eyes were boring into her the same way Harmony's had the day before and not for the first time Quinn was struck with the similarity of mother and daughter.

It was then that Quinn took in Rachel's appearance. She was caked in mud and was sweaty lightly. Rachel saw Quinn looking and explained, "I was just doing some work in the yard. Actually, would you mind doing me a favour?"

"Anything." Quinn answered taking a step inside and closing the door behind her as Rachel started walking through the house and gestured for her to follow.

The yard looked a lot different since the last time Quinn had seen it. Everything had been cleared out and the grass had been pulled up leaving a crumbly level of earth spread across the yard except for in a corner where a half full wheelbarrow and a shovel stood.

Rachel stopped next to the gate and turned to face Quinn. "I was wondering if you would be able to bring those bags of earth into the garden for me and leave them in that little clear space over there?" She asked pointing next to the wheelbarrow at the area she had already started to clear. "I wouldn't ask but I couldn't lift them, though not through lack of trying." She scowled at the offending bags and Quinn noticed that one of the bags was moved slightly away from the pile probably from Rachel's attempt to move it.

"I don't mind." Quinn responded slipping off her jacket and draping it over the fence as she walked down the driveway.

It didn't take her long to move the bags into the designated area especially with the help of her teenager muscles but what slowed the whole process down was when Rachel went back to work shovelling the gritty soil into the wheelbarrow.

To say it was distracting would be an understatement.

Rachel was breathing heavily and sweating and occasionally she would take a break to fan herself with her hand. Either she just loved to torture teenagers or she was completely unaware of how sexy she looked but whichever option, the moving process was slowing down considerably.

Just as Quinn brought in the last of the bags and dumped it down on the pile, Rachel walked into the kitchen and came back with two bottles of water, one of which she handed to Quinn. She gulped the whole thing down in a few seconds as the day was getting hotter and hotter. When she looked at Rachel again she was sprinkling her face with some of the water from her bottle but she had her head tilted back, her eyes closed and a look of pure pleasure on her face due to the coolness.

Quinn had to physically clamp a hand to her mouth to stop herself from moaning at the sight and her other hand went lower to clamp onto another part of her anatomy that was also expressing its delight at the vision before her.

Before Rachel could open her eyes, Quinn turned and practically sprinted to the house and without turning around called, "I just need to use the bathroom."

Once she got there she immediately locked the door and sunk against it. She searched her mind for anything that could make her rapidly growing problem go away. Her mind automatically went to all the horror movies she had ever watched but that didn't seem to do the trick. It was when Harmony banged on the door and demanded that whoever was in there hurry up that the image of Harmony and Joe came to her mind. In an instant her problem was solved and she sighed in relief as she flushed the toilet then walked out.

Harmony seemed shocked to see her there but in her still half asleep state she didn't seem to care enough to protest and just walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

When she got back out to the yard Rachel spotted her as soon as she was through the door and fixed her with a worried glance. "Are you OK Charlie? You left kind of suddenly."

"Yeah I just needed the toilet." Quinn repeated her earlier lie.

"I just thought you might have felt sick from working in this heat the way you ran towards the bathroom." Rachel responded feeling Quinn's forehead to see if she was warm. She gasped when she felt the heat.

"Charlie your burning up!"

"Um...its just...hot today." Quinn lied haltingly and she felt sure that Rachel would see right through her.

"Oh I'm so sorry for making you work in this heat." Rachel responded, pulling back with the guilt evident on her face.

"Its OK, I plan to use this little job as work experience on my application form for college." Quinn once again lied to try to ease some of Rachel's guilt.

"Oh...well then I have more jobs for you if you like. Ali probably won't crawl from her cave until some time in the afternoon anyway." Rachel said hopefully.

"Put me to work Rachel." Quinn said with a grin which the brunette easily returned.

"I have another shovel and some buckets if you want to start digging up the yard with me?"

"Sounds great." Quinn said as Rachel walked over to the shed and got her a shovel and a couple of buckets and put them down in front of her.

Deciding that she was about to get a lot more sweaty, she took off the plaid shirt she was wearing and threw it on top of her jacket until she was just left in a white wife beater. She got back to work but couldn't help but smile a little when she noticed Rachel had stopped working when she had taken her shirt off. Quinn risked a glance over at the smaller woman and saw that Rachel was unabashedly staring at her

Rachel seemed to realise what she was doing and tore her eyes away from Quinn's abs and blushed a little before turning into the house without explanation.

Quinn carried on working because it was obvious that the woman wanted to be alone but after a few moments she started to hear snippets of a loudly whispered conversation drifting out through the open conservatory door.

"...I just don't think that will help Kurt." Rachel muttered loudly, clearly frustrated.

"Definitely not him...I said no Kurt...Sure, tonight sounds great." She hung up after that and Quinn had to restrain herself from asking what the weird conversation was about when Rachel came back outside looking troubled.

They worked in silence with Quinn taking both the loads of the dirt out to a skip at the front of the house, an act which warranted Rachel giving her a thin smile. Nothing like the patented Rachel Berry smile she had grown used to over the years. The silence was finally broken when Ali came stumbling into the yard looking like she had gotten no sleep though she had actually slept for the last 14 hours.

"S'up Charlie?" Ali asked, collapsing on the ground next to where Quinn was working.

"Ali, your going to dirty your jeans if you sit there." Rachel scolded.

"Its not my fault you took away the patio chairs." Ali retorted lying down in the dirt to make sure her t-shirt got covered too. Quinn had to hold in a laugh at how similar her daughter was to her in their personalities. However she knew better than to laugh out loud because it was so obvious that Rachel was about to start a rant.

Quinn wasn't about to let her daughter suffer however and like the good mother she was she stepped in front of Ali and asked Rachel, "Do you have somewhere that I could clean up a little?"

She could quite literally see Rachel wind down from her rage and turned her attention to the blonde stood in front of her. "Don't you want a shower?" Rachel asked.

"I promised Ali I would take her to the court in the park and we could play a little. I'm going to get sweaty doing that so I just want to get some of the mud off." Quinn explained and Rachel nodded as the doorbell rang and she walked to answer it, gesturing for the taller blonde to follow.

As they got to the front door so did Harmony and she squealed and jumped into Joe's arms as the door opened to reveal him.

It was wrong, Quinn knew it but she was still a little smug when Joe's eyes narrowed when he saw her in the house and when he winced from the pain of the movement on his black eye. That Quinn had given him. She was feeling very smug.

"What the hell is she doing here?" Joe questioned, trying to push his way through Harmony to get to Quinn.

Before Quinn could respond however, Rachel's tiny form was in front of her and she stared Joe down then stared Quinn down and said, "There will be no fighting in this house. If you can't adhere to that rule then you will get out."

She said it with such authority that Quinn felt herself get turned on a little and she quickly nodded her agreement when Rachel looked at her.

"OK then, let me get you to the coat room so you can dust the mud off you." Rachel said turning in that direction. However before they could lead the room, Joe called to her, "So is that your game Evans? Get down and dirty with Mrs Fabray?"

She turned around and shot him her middle finger which he just smirked at before she felt Rachel pulling on her arm to leave. When they got to the coat room, far away from Joe, Quinn finally relaxed and Rachel turned to face her.

"I really don't want to have to ban you from the house. Not now that you are helping me with the yard." Rachel said, half serious and half joking.

"I wouldn't do that to you." Quinn promised and Rachel smiled at the declaration.

"So I guess Joe was the one that gave you that split lip?" Rachel asked.

"He was saying some crap about Harmony. I didn't have a choice." Quinn defended herself and she saw Rachel's smile drop.

"You did it to defend Harmony?" Rachel asked astonished. Quinn simply nodded.

They started to get closer to each other and it occurred to Quinn that Joe's comment was dead on. They were still a few centimetres away when Ali banged on the door and shouted, "Hurry up Charlie, I want to play some ball."

The moment passed and Rachel quickly moved away from her muttering something about getting back to work. Just as she was about to leave Quinn called to her and she turned back. It was hard to know exactly what she wanted to say because she wasn't the best with emotions.

"Rach, if you don't want to go tonight, you shouldn't let Kurt pressure you into it." She rubbed at her neck nervously, hoping she hadn't overstepped her boundaries. She hadn't heard what was going on but it was clear from Rachel's side of the conversation that she was going to do something that night that she didn't want to do.

"Sometimes you have to do things that you don't like that are for the best." Rachel wisely murmured back before she left the room and left Quinn to her thoughts of how much she hoped that Rachel would take her advice and how close Quinn had come to kissing her.

XXXXX

"Just one more Ali and then we can call it a day." Quinn said through deep breathes as she crouched over and prepared to go for the ball again.

"I'm tired and we've been at this for hours. Didn't you say you wanted to go see some band perform?" Ali asked straightening up and also breathing heavily.

"Yeah so?" Quinn replied impatiently, eyeing up the ball that rested safely in Ali's hands.

"Well if you want me to come with you I need to get cleaned up and its only an hour until we need to be there." Ali explained smugly when she saw Quinn's face drop in realisation.

"Fine." Quinn relented with a pout, finally straightening up and knocking the ball out of Ali's hands as she walked towards the car.

"There is no need to through a tantrum."

XXXXX

Exactly 45 minutes later Quinn was knocking on the Fabray family house for the second time that day, freshly showered. Once again the door opened to reveal Rachel but in drastically different attire from that morning.

It made her stop dead in her tracks. She was wearing a low cut black dress that showed more boob than a woman who was a mother should show and the dress came to mid thigh showing off Rachel's gorgeous long legs.

Quinn knew her mouth was open and that a little drool was probably coming out as she stood there staring but she could find it within herself to tear her eyes away from the ample amount of cleavage on display.

"Oh, hi Charlie, I'm sure Ali will be ready in a minute." Rachel said distractedly as she put on a pair of earrings.

She closed the door gently behind her and stood awkwardly in the hallway, occasionally looking at the stairs and more often than not looking at Rachel.

"So you decided to go?" Quinn asked when Rachel stopped moving around.

"Its good for me to get back out into the dating scene." Rachel explained although her lines sounded very rehearsed and it didn't sound as though she believed them.

That was when Quinn realised what she had actually said.

"Wait, your going on a date?" Quinn asked astounded. "But you are still married."

"Yeah and have you seen my loving wife around here since you started hanging out with Ali? She didn't even care enough to come to our custody hearing. She didn't even care enough to drag herself away from whatever slut she was with to fight for her children. To fight for me." Rachel started off sounding angry but at the end she just sounded sad. "I wish she would fight." She whispered clearly thinking the blonde girl couldn't hear her.

Quinn didn't know what to say or do but when Rachel started crying lightly, she let her body take over and pulled the smaller woman into a hug. She just rested her chin on Rachel's head and breathed in her beautiful perfume, letting it calm her enough so she could work out what she wanted to say.

When the sobs finally died down a few minutes later, Quinn tilted her head and whispered in Rachel's ear, "I know that she loves you and if she could, she would fight for you."

Rachel looked up into Quinn's eyes but didn't remove herself from the hug. "How do you know that?" It was such a sincere and hopeful question that Quinn had to try to stop herself from crying because she had so clearly damaged this angel.

"Because a person would have to be insane not to fall in love with you and then do everything they could to keep you in their lives." Quinn said with the realisation dawning on her that she had really been a complete idiot.

Rachel opened her mouth to reply but at the same time the doorbell rang and it seemed to awaken her to the situation she was in. She quickly pulled herself out of Quinn's arms and ran to the mirror.

"Damn it, I forgot my make-up. Charlie will you let him in and tell him I will be down in a minute?" She asked already running to the bathroom.

"Sure thing." Quinn called back even though she couldn't hear her.

Trying to keep the smirk off her face, she opened the door to see a tall bumbling man standing half way down the path and looking at the house, clearly checking to see if it was the right one. When he saw Quinn open the door, he smiled a dopey smile and ran towards her.

Obviously there was something off about his centre of gravity as when he got to the steps he tripped over his own feet and went staggering towards Quinn head first. She felt kind of bad for what she did but she really couldn't help her desire to see the man in pain for even daring to be close to her wife.

She took a step to the side and let him ram his head straight into the door post. He fell to the floor clutching the top of his head and Quinn fell to the door post clutching her ribs due to her laughter. It was just too funny but she managed to control herself as he looked up with a pout.

"I need some ice." He whimpered.

"There is a shop about a 5 minute walk from here. I wouldn't suggest you drive there in your condition." She responded with a hidden smirk and with a small gesture to the beat up blue truck sitting in the drive way.

The idiot didn't seem to realise that she wasn't just giving him some friendly advice or maybe he was concussed but either way he struggled to his feet and took off in the direction she had pointed.

"Thank you!" He called over his shoulder with another dopey grin on his face and Quinn was just about to do a fist pump in the air for getting rid of the lug when Rachel came out onto the porch.

"Finn where are you going?" She shouted to him.

"I don't remember." He said, stopping to look back at her with a confused look on his face.

OK so he probably was concussed but the way that Rachel just excepted his halfwittedness made her think that he was probably an idiot as well. It wasn't her problem.

"Charlie will you help him into my car so we can leave?" Rachel asked with the puppy dog eyes and Quinn prepared herself to get crushed by the giant man.

"Of course Rach...come on big guy." Quinn said as she put Finn's arm around her shoulders and half carried him to the car. If she had tried to lift something that heavy before she would have died or at least had a hernia but her teen-aged body was seriously ripped and she had just enough strength to partially support him.

When he plopped down into the car he rested his head on the headrest and closed his eyes as Rachel got in the drivers seat.

"Thanks man." Finn said without opening his eyes and reaching out a hand to pat her on the shoulder but ended up hitting her head and messing her hair up. She shook his hand off and closed the car door.

It was all worth it though when just before the car pulled out of the drive way, Rachel mouthed to Quinn, 'Thank you.'

She watched the car until it was out of sight and mentally slapped herself for helping her wife to go on a date. Before she could get too far into her self hate spiral, Ali appeared at the front door.

"Hey, I'm ready, should we get going?" Ali asked.

"Yeah. I really need a drink."

XXXXX

The Basement was a dump. She really should have guessed that when she found out that Puck was allowed to play there but the thought had never occurred to her.

There was a bar, a couple of tables and chairs and a stage that was just about big enough for the drum kit and two guys to stand on. A lot of jokes came into her mind that she could make to Puck about this place but lady liquor demanded her attention and she led Ali and Rory straight to the bar.

"Three whiskeys." She ordered with the barman who shuffled off to prepare the drinks and she sat down on a stool.

"I don't want a drink after our last experience." Ali said eyeing up the glasses that had been put in front of them nervously.

"Yeah and I have never had any alcohol before." Rory said. He looked into the glass and sniffed it a little before cringing away.

"Man up Flanagan." Quinn said downing her glass in seconds.

Rory seemed to consider it and then followed suit, coughing his guts up straight after but Ali pushed her glass away from her.

"Just one tonight Al, to take the edge off." Quinn manoeuvred the glass a little closer to the girl.

"One turns into more with you." Ali said, stopping Quinn from moving the glass.

"I'm driving tonight, that's me done for the evening. I promise." Quinn swore and Ali nodded her belief and downed the drink in a few gulps.

Quinn clapped her on the back in approval as the same guy that had served them got up onto the stage and tapped the microphone. The four other people in the bar and the three teenagers turned to look at him.

"It is my honour to present to you...Puck-heads." He clapped a little then walked off the stage leaving the three band members to walk on the stage anticlimactically and start organising themselves.

If she wasn't completely sure that Puck would throw something at her if she said a word about the name of the band or their professionalism, she probably would have laughed out loud. With a large amount of effort she kept a straight face whilst watching the second idiot of the evening.

It was as if they had wanted to prove a point. Even though they weren't that organised the second the first chord came streaming out of Puck's guitar she knew she was witnessing something special.

They were all flawless musicians, that was for sure and they warmed up the crowd with a few rock covers, all of which induced cheers from across the bar before they started playing their own songs which were even bigger hits. It all ended rather suddenly with one song drawing to a close, Puck calling good night to the crowd through the microphone and then the three boys walking off the stage to standing ovation.

Quinn turned to look at her friends and it was clear that they were just as astounded as she was at how good the band had been. They stayed in silence until they spotted Puck stick his head out of a door at the back and gestured for them to come over.

The room was only small with a threadbare sofa and table with three chairs around it. Puck was sprawled on the couch and the other band members were sat around the table, one tuning his guitar and the other reading a magazine.

"So what did you think?" Puck asked with excitement coming over to stand next to the trio.

"Puck that was incredible. If you could get the right advertisement, draw in more of a crowd you could be playing bigger venues in no time. If we made you seem a bit more professional, people would hire you." Quinn explained with her salesman training from her previous job kicking in.

"You really think so?" Puck asked unsurely and when Quinn nodded he continued, "Well we are not great at the advertising and stuff. It was kind of a miracle that we got in here." Puck explained and Quinn already had ideas formulating in her head about what the boys needed.

"Maybe I could help you out?" It was a question and one directed at Puck and the two boys that were sat at the table and had been listening in.

They all nodded their heads eagerly and Quinn knew that the boys were really talented and with the right help they could make this into something amazing.

**A/N: Well what do you guys think? More Sugar/Ali as requested, Rachel is dating Finn and Quinn is getting involved with Puck's band. Tell me what you think and if there is anything you want to see. **


	7. Leave That To Me

**A/N: I am really sorry for the wait guys, I hope I can update again soon but with exams and stuff I don't know. I just wanted to get this chapter out so you weren't waiting for an update for like three months.**

**Hope you enjoy the chapter... **

There was only a minute left on the clock when Sue called a time out and the team huddled around their Coach on the sidelines. They were sweaty and exhausted but they knew that they couldn't afford to give up. All they had to do was score three points and they would win the game which would send them to play in the championships.

"You guys are looking great out there. We need to pull it together for the final minute." Sue carried on her pep talk but Quinn found herself momentarily distracted as she looked up into the bleachers for what must have been the hundredth time that night with a scowl that now seemed permanently etched onto her face.

Rachel and Finn were sat in the stands on a date but the movement that had caught Quinn's eye was Finn moving his meaty arm around Rachel's shoulders and pulling her into him. She looked distinctly uncomfortable and Quinn was about to run up to them and tell him as much when Ali tugged on her arm.

"Come on man, we're about to start back up." She said as she pulled her towards centre court and into their positions.

The whistle was blown and the ball was tapped into play with Lauren winning the ball and attempting to pass to another team mate when the ball was intercepted. The girl from the opposite team was making some serious head way and seemed to dribble effortlessly past the defence.

Quinn pushed herself and sprinted until she swung around in front of the girl and stole the ball from her hands in one swift movement. The crowd roared as Quinn headed back in the opposite direction and swivelled past a couple of members of the other team.

She was blocked off by three of the opposition and was too far away from the hoop to risk taking a shot. She looked around to check her options to see that there was 10 seconds left on the clock with the only ones within three point range was Lauren who was being guarded and Ali who was open.

It was a no brainer. That was until the Coach started screaming, "Pass to Zizes." Clearly she thought Ali couldn't make the shot and it made her hesitate until there was only five seconds left on the clock then in a rapid movement she passed the ball to Ali who caught it and took the shot.

It was in the air as the buzzer rang and the whole gym watched in fascinated horror as it seemed to move towards the hoop in slow motion. The room was silent as time then sped up again and the swish of the net sounded clearly across the room and the crowd broke out into wild applause.

The whole team ran towards Ali and had a massive group hug before letting her go and running off in all different directions. Ali was shocked to say the least. She was shocked that she had managed to make the shot that was going to take the team to the championships.

What shocked her more was when she felt a delicate set of arms wrap around her waist and someone rest their face on her shoulder blades. A delicious scent wafted towards her even though the gym smelt like sweat and Ali knew that the owner of the arms had been cheerleading and should have also smelt like sweat. She always smelt wonderful though or at least that was what Ali thought.

She spun around as the arms released her to see that she had been right that Sugar Lopez had been hugging her. Later she would claim that it was the overexertion that made her want to faint but she knew that just wasn't true as she stared into those beautiful brown eyes.

"You were amazing." Sugar beamed at her, pulling her in for another hug but this time Ali was very conscious that she had been sweating. She decided to hug her anyway and was glad of the decision when she felt the full length of Sugar's body pressed against her.

They were pulled apart when one of the cheerleaders came over and dragged Sugar away but not before she could turn back and shoot a smile and wave at Ali.

"Your blushing Al." Quinn teased, walking over and patting her daughter on the shoulder having witnessed the whole exchange.

"I'm not, its just really warm in here." Ali tried to take the pressure off and Quinn just gave her a knowing look and dropped it.

"How about we go out to celebrate the fact that we are going to the championships because of your skill?" Quinn offered.

"Hell yeah."

XXXXX

She really should have expected that Finn wouldn't be able to take a hint. When they told Rachel they wanted to go out and celebrate by going to a restaurant she readily agreed and unfortunately so did Finn. When Rachel started congratulating Ali, Quinn tugged Finn to the side and whispered to him, "I think this meal is just for the family." She raised her eyebrows pointedly as if to emphasize her point and his face lit up in a dopey smile.

"It is so cool that you guys think of me as family." He patted her on the shoulder and wandered back over to Rachel and Quinn shook her head in quiet disbelief at the depths of the man's idiocy.

Rachel looked slightly exasperated when Finn dropped his arm heavily over her shoulders but when she spotted Quinn her eyes seemed to lighten up again.

"Are we ready to go then?" Quinn asked, desperate to get the night over with now she would have to spend it watching Finn and Rachel together.

"Yeah lets go." Finn said with strange enthusiasm as he led his way out of the gym and helped Rachel into his truck.

"Sorry guys there's no room for you." Finn said, seemingly unconcerned.

"Don't worry Hudson, I'll drive the kids of the woman your dating." She said not loud enough for him to hear but loud enough for Rachel, Ali and Harmony. The latter two sniggered whilst Rachel tried to scold her but couldn't help the slight quirk of her lips.

"What a douche-bag." Ali muttered as they watched the truck speed away before they had any time to get into Quinn's car.

They made it to the restaurant about five minutes after the couple and they were already seated with Finn eagerly looking over the menu.

Quinn seated herself next to Finn making sure she was in Rachel's eye line and just as she sat, she leaned over and whispered in Rachel's ear, "That exasperated look is starting to become a permanent feature on your face."

Rachel looked at her and nodded subtly before shooting a slightly disgusted look at Finn who was shovelling bread sticks into his mouth with one hand as he continued to read the menu.

"Waiter, I would like to order." Finn demanded abruptly, with his mouth full and raising his hand to click his fingers in the air. Rachel literally tried to hide her face in her hands as the man walked over to the table.

"We will have two steaks please." Finn ordered and handed the man his menu.

"I'm a vegan."

"She's a vegan."

Rachel and Quinn had spoken at the exact same time and Rachel looked shocked that Quinn had remembered and then she looked pleased.

"So you want vegetables with it?" Finn asked genuinely perplexed as to the meaning of the word.

"I'll have the mushroom lasagne please." Rachel spoke directly to the man, pointedly ignoring Finn's question

"Anything else." The man asked politely.

"No we'll just drink the water on the table." Finn said dismissing the man with a wave of his hand.

"What about us?" Harmony asked slowly and disbelievingly.

"You can buy something yourself if you want to eat." Finn muttered distractedly as he turned his attention back to the bread sticks at the centre of the table. Harmony looked outraged whereas Ali looked like she expected nothing less from the bumbling oaf. Rachel just looked disappointed. What he was doing was appalling and Quinn knew she should see it that way but all she could see was an opportunity to show to Rachel how much better she was than Finn. So she did.

"Its OK guys, order whatever you want. Its on me." She said with a smile at everyone bar Finn.

"Awesome Charlie, thanks." Ali said leaning forward to order from the waiter who was still stood at the table. Quinn wasn't listening though because she was to busy watching Rachel who kept glancing at her with a pleased smile.

XXXXX

Around the time that their food came, Sugar and Tina walked into the restaurant clearly having the same idea to celebrate. Quinn first noticed something was wrong when Ali stiffened in her seat and she turned to see that Sugar had entered and it suddenly made sense.

The girls were seated a few tables down from them and when Sugar saw Ali her face lit up and Ali finally unfroze and returned the look.

"Go over and talk to her." Quinn suggested and the younger blonde blushed at being caught out especially when Rachel craned herself around to inspect both of the cheerleaders to see who they were talking about.

"Sugar Lopez." Quinn said quietly to Rachel when she turned back around and Rachel nodded in comprehension.

"That is so cute, sweetheart, do you have a crush?" Rachel asked as she reached over to rub Ali's shoulder.

"Mom!" She whined as she slid further down her seat. "I don't have a crush."

"Of course you don't but you would make a cute couple." Rachel placated her daughter.

"You totally do have a crush, you have been drooling over her for years." Harmony pointed out and if it was possible Ali blushed even more.

"Take control Al. Go over and talk to her. Chicks love confidence." Quinn imparted her advice and wisdom to her daughter. Ali still didn't look convinced so Quinn added, "How about I come over with you. Sugar's my friend so it would be less awkward?"

Ali nodded her head and Quinn led the way over to the cheerleaders very aware that there were three sets of eyes following her waiting to see her show the confidence that she had said women loved so much.

The charming grin that she used when she wanted to get something from someone slid onto her face and she leant one arm on the table, carefully avoiding the lit candle in the centre, as she talked to the two brunettes.

"How are we this evening Ladies?" She asked making eye contact with both girls, lingering longer on Tina who practically melted in her seat.

"We're good, especially after the win Ali got for us." Sugar replied and reached out a hand to rub Ali's arm. Ali visibly shivered at the action and Quinn had to refrain from face palming at the lack of smoothness her daughter was displaying. To distract attention from the fact that Ali's eyes had also rolled closed at the touch, Quinn started talking to Tina who hadn't stopped staring at her since they came in the restaurant.

"Those were some amazing moves you were performing at the game Tina. It cheered me up massively to watch you." Quinn complimented and watched as the girl swooned.

She couldn't help but compare the girl to Rachel. She had the same brown eyes and small stature but everything else was different. As soon as she started thinking about Rachel her mind was drawn back to the fact that Rachel was probably still watching them and a small part of her wanted to make her wife jealous seeing as Rachel was on a date with someone else.

Before she could even think to ask Tina to leave somewhere with her effectively leaving Ali alone with Sugar, Tina seemed to summon the courage she had never had around Quinn before.

"Hey I was wondering if you could help me with something in the bathroom?" She asked with a shy look on her face and wanting to give Ali some time with Sugar she agreed and let the Asian girl lead her to the back of the restaurant.

She looked over her shoulder as she was walking to see Ali lean against the table in exactly the same way as Quinn had done moments before and she also saw Rachel watching her and Tina with what looked liked jealously in her eyes.

Quinn pushed that away as a ridiculous thought when all thoughts fled from her mind as she was pushed up against the wall next to the ladies rest room and a pair of lips attacked hers. All she could feel was shock that the normally quiet and unassertive girl had made such a bold move and she opened her mouth to say something when Tina used the opportunity to slide her tongue in.

She intended to stop Tina that was until tongue had been added because to be honest the girl had a wickedly skilful tongue. Quinn got lost in the feeling of it and spun them around so she pressed Tina against the wall and kissed her back with vigour. It really wasn't helping that Tina had the same stature as Rachel and if Quinn closed her eyes, she could pretend it was her wife she was kissing.

It was when she felt her little buddy come to attention and Tina smile into the kiss because of it that she knew she had to stop. Luck seemed to be with her though as within a few seconds, a blur that looked like Ali sped past them and ran into the toilets without looking back.

"Do you smell smoke?" Tina asked looking in the direction Ali had ran.

Rachel and Sugar then took that opportunity to rush around the corner and Sugar didn't stop as she ran into the bathroom.

"I better go see what's wrong." Tina said worriedly as she followed the other two girls and left Quinn and Rachel stood on their own.

It left Quinn completely exposed and she dropped her hands down to cover her erection which drew Rachel's eyes to the area and she immediately saw what Quinn was failing to attempt to hide.

Something flashed through chocolate eyes but it was gone before Quinn could register what it was.

"Glad to see you were having fun." Rachel said in a hurt voice as she turned and walked back to the table. Quinn was about to follow her when the three girls came out of the bathroom. Ali gave Quinn a 'kill me now' look and Quinn looked confused before she noticed that one of the long sleeves of Ali's t-shirt had a singed hole in it.

"Her sleeve caught fire from the candle when she leaned on the table." Sugar said with a huge grin at Ali as if the adorableness of what the girl had done was too much. It looked as if they had managed to put the fire out before it had burned her but the flesh was a little bit red.

"Can we go now? I need an ice pack or something." Ali pleaded and Quinn gave her consent whilst trying not to burst out laughing at the situation. One thing that killed her desire to laugh was when she walked back to the table to find that Finn and Rachel had left, leaving Harmony on her own.

It didn't take her long to realise that Rachel had in fact been jealous.

XXXXX

The next day was a Saturday and it was a day that Quinn had agreed to help Rachel with her project a little more. She didn't bother going to the front door but let herself in through the back yard gate and closed it loudly behind her to announce her presence to Rachel who was already working hard.

"Oh, hi. I wasn't sure if you were going to come today." Rachel said not making eye contact.

"Why wouldn't I?" Quinn asked as she took a few steps towards Rachel.

"I thought you would want to spend time with your girlfriend especially seeing as you were interrupted last night."Rachel explained, sounding hurt and went back to spreading soil in a wooden frame that Quinn had made the last time she was there.

"Rachel," Quinn waited until she had eye contact and it hurt her to see sadness in the darker set. "I don't have a girlfriend."

"Well you seemed to be getting pretty cosy with that girl last night." Rachel accused dropping her equipment and taking a step towards Quinn.

"She kissed me and I couldn't help how my body reacted." Quinn defended herself not wanting to tell Rachel that she had only gotten an erection because she was picturing kissing her and saw anger flash in Rachel's eyes.

"You shouldn't have let her kiss you!" Rachel shouted with a furnace of rage bubbling within her as she looked into the hazel eyes that were so familiar to her.

"Why?" Quinn asked in a normal tone of voice. She wanted Rachel to admit it. Admit that she didn't like seeing Quinn with another girl but she should have known that it was too much to ask for.

Rachel eyes darted back and forth for a moment whilst she thought and then she spluttered out, "If your not...in a relationship with her...you shouldn't do...things like that."

It was a pitiful attempt at lie but the truth was that Rachel didn't know why she hated seeing Quinn aroused by the ministrations of someone else. She refused to even consider that it could be because she wanted Quinn for herself especially because she was only 18 years old. She wasn't supposed to have feelings for someone so young.

"What are we doing today?" Quinn asked, gesturing to the empty ground around them and mercifully changing the subject.

"I need you to build another wooden frame with different dimensions if you could?" Rachel asked as she handed over a piece of paper with the details.

"Sure I can do that." Quinn responded reading the requirements carefully and walking over to the shed in the back corner where the tools were kept.

They worked in silence until Quinn had finished the frame and she stepped up behind Rachel and caught her attention by gently touching her on the hip. They both shuddered at the contact and Rachel span around, displacing Quinn's hand in the process.

"It's done." Quinn said simply.

"Thank you for that." Rachel replied with a genuine smile as she fussed over the newest addition to her project.

"So how are thing going with the jolly green giant?" Quinn asked and watched as Rachel's back stiffened. Slowly she carried on fiddling with frame and refused to turn to look at Quinn.

"Things are going wonderfully." She lied and she heard Quinn snort somewhere behind her.

"I'll believe that when I see it." Quinn muttered under her breathe but Rachel heard it and sensing an opportunity for a little payback she spun around to look at Quinn.

"Have you got a problem with Finn because he is a very sweet man." Rachel filled her voice with fake love and tried to smile and let her eyes glaze over as if she was overwhelmed with her awe at the giant child. She knew she had succeeded when she heard Quinn scoff.

"Yeah he is the sweet man that ignored your kids, refused to pay for them and embarrassed you in public." Quinn felt her hatred for the man seeping into her words and body language.

"Why don't _you_ like him Charlie?" Rachel asked and couldn't help but let her smirk show a little as she took a step towards the teenager. Quinn had only given her reasons why she shouldn't like Finn.

Quinn looked indecisive for a moment as she thought about whether she should come up with a crappy lie like Rachel had or if she should tell the truth. She decided on a half truth.

Quinn took the few last steps so that there was only a few inches of space between the women when she answered, "Because you deserve so much better than him."

Rachel's eyes widened at the sincerity and love that was pouring out of Quinn and they both found themselves leaning towards each other but just as they were about to close the distance, Quinn's phone rang.

The blonde was very happy to ignore it and use her ringtone as background music to her kissing her wife but Rachel was clearly stunned out of the moment and turned back to her work leaving Quinn to answer her phone. Quinn heaved a sigh as she watched Rachel's back move away from her.

"Hello."

"_Hey Charlie, its Puck. I was wondering if you were serious when you said you thought you could make Puck-heads something big?"_ He sounded anxious.

"I was dead serious."

"_Well could you maybe come to my place in an hour and you, me and the guys could talk a bit?"_

"Yeah that sounds great." Quinn responded getting a little excited at the prospect of what she was about to do. The excitement was mirrored in Puck's voice.

"_Cool, I'll text you my address. See you soon."_

"See you." Quinn ended the call and spotted Rachel trying to listen into the conversation and so she decided to have some fun. She was aware that her conversation had been very bland from her end and therefore believable if she added a little extra something. Still holding the phone to her ear she spoke to the dial tone.

"I love you too baby. I can't wait to be with you as well." Then she hung up the phone and turned to see Rachel turning bright red as she stormed over to her and started prodding at her chest and shouting.

"You told me you didn't have a girlfriend. Why would you lie to me? Do I mean nothing to you?" Tears were forming at the corners of Rachel's eyes and that was definitely not the reaction that Quinn had wanted but she was too shocked to speak.

All she could do was pull the smaller woman into her and wrap her in an unfortunately rather sweaty hug. When the brunette had calmed down a little she pulled away with a look on her face that said she was demanding answers.

"I was just messing with you. I was only talking to Puck and when I hung up I added on that last line to see your reaction." Quinn admitted and she could see the fire die down in Rachel's eyes as she explained.

"Who's Puck?" Rachel asked, not letting her get away that easily.

"He's a friend I met at a bar and we go to school together."

"You met at a bar?" Rachel questioned, obviously thinking the worst.

"He's a bartender and nothing would ever happen between us because if you didn't know, I'm gay." Quinn placated her.

"Your gay?" Rachel asked with fake shock on her face.

"I know its such a surprise." Quinn joked along and was glad that Rachel wasn't still upset about the phone call. The text from Puck came through on her phone with his address which was about twenty minutes away but her house was on the way so she could stop for a quick shower. She wanted to make a good impression on the band.

"Sorry Rach, I have to go but I can come over and help you again tomorrow if you want?" Quinn offered.

"I would love that Charlie, everything is really coming along out here. I think this will make an amazing show piece for my new business."

"I think it will as well. You are so talented Rachel that if you want this, nothing can stop you." Rachel blushed slightly at the compliment and at the fact that as she spoke Quinn had reached out to cup Rachel's cheek and was stroking it softly.

Another text message came through on her phone and Quinn was seriously contemplating throwing the thing over the fence for interrupting these moments with Rachel. She kept her cool though and managed to pull away from her soul mate and slid out the back gate with a small wave goodbye.

As she was walking down the driveway she saw an unfamiliar truck parked there and when she got closer she noticed that Harmony and Joe were stood on the other side of it, kissing passionately.

When Joe's hands started to wander, Quinn started to see red and her eyes landed on the hose pipe leading from the side of the house. Without wasting a second she scooped it up, turned it on and raised it so the stream of water flew over the truck and landed on the couple on the other side.

If she were the adult Quinn she knew Rachel would have scolded her for getting too involved in her daughter's love life but as she was a teenager she knew she could interfere as much as she wanted and all guilt free.

After a few good seconds she turned off the water and dropped the hose back into place and started walking towards her car. As the two other teenagers spotted her, she gave a big wave and called to them, "Nice morning huh guys, well except for the odd shower." She topped it off with a cheesy smile before getting into her car and watching the frustrated duo storm into the house.

Finally remembering that she had a message she checked it and rolled her eyes before pulling off.

From Puck:

_Can u bring snacks?_

XXXXX

Quinn walked up to the door of the slightly shabby looking house, whose address in Lima Heights Puck had sent her, with a large bag of cheesy puffs in her hand. Not seeing a bell she could ring she just knocked loudly on the door a couple of times and it was almost immediately opened by a grinning Noah Puckerman.

She threw the bag at him and walked past him into the house knowing that confidence was the key to getting the band to believe in her. Quinn strode into the living room with Puck following behind already eating the snacks and spotted two nervous looking guys on the sofa who jumped up when they spotted her.

"Hello, my name is Charlie Evans." She introduced herself. She first shook the hand of a tall thin guy who had far too much junk in his hair.

"Sebastian Smythe." The boy introduced himself and even from just saying his name she could tell he was very full of himself. Choosing to ignore that potential problem for now she turned to an African American boy who was giving off a friendlier vibe.

"Matt Rutherford." His smile was genuine and lit up his face which made Quinn smile back at him with sincerity.

"OK lets get straight down to business, please sit down gentleman." Quinn ordered in the same voice she used when she was a medical representative. It was commanding but with enough charm to help the client relax a little. The three boys squeezed onto the three seater sofa and looked at her expectantly though Puck continued to eat the cheesy puffs.

"Let me ask you a question. What do you want to happen with this band?" Quinn asked looking at each of them in turn.

Sebastian was the first to answer, "We want to be famous and sell records." He said as if it should be obvious.

"How do you plan to get there?" She continued. Nobody had an answer to that so she ran a hand through her hair and leaned towards them. "I have certain saleswoman's experience which I think can get people to sign you to play for them but first you have to get people to notice you."

"But we don't want to keep playing in bar's for the rest of our lives." Puck whined.

"You won't be but you will start to play in bigger and better bars, work your way up into somewhere where you can be found by the right people." Quinn explained and she saw understanding light up in the boys eyes.

"So how do we get people to notice us?" Matt asked, contributing to the conversation for the first time.

"Leave that to me." Quinn smirked.

XXXXX

There was many secrets that Quinn had kept from people throughout her life, the biggest of which she kept in her pants but she had a lesser secret that not everyone knew about her.

She loved to draw. She was very talented at it and was hoping to rely on these skills in order to make posters advertising the next time Puck-heads were playing.

It was the first step of her plan. She was going to get a big crowd to turn up at the performance and then get the owner of a bar to come as well and hopefully see the positive effect Puck-heads were having on the crowd. From there the bar owner would then hopefully sign the boys to play at their own bar. The place she was thinking of had opened up only a few months ago and was not particularly high end but it wasn't in Lima Heights and they had a live band every night so they were always in need of fresh blood.

She had come to school on Monday morning about an hour earlier than normal and had hidden herself away in one of the art rooms attempting to put together something reasonable. She screwed up the sheet of paper she had been working on and threw her fourth attempt into the bin.

A headache was already developing and she rested her head in her hands, closed her eyes and tried to let the before school quiet calm her mind. That was when she heard very defined sobs in the hallway getting louder as the owner was clearly running towards the room.

They raced past the room and was only in Quinn's line of vision for less than a second but it was all she needed to distinguish who the sobbing blur was. As soon as she realised she was on her feet and chasing after the girl.

She easily made up the distance between them especially when Harmony ran up the bleachers and sat down on the top bench, crying into her hands.

Quinn stopped at the bottom of the bleachers and wondered if Harmony would actually want her little sister's friend to comfort her but after a particularly loud sob, her mind was made up and she ran to the top in a couple of seconds. Her daughter needed her.

Trying not to frighten the brunette she approached her slowly and sat down on the bench gently and Harmony looked startled that Quinn had followed her.

"W-what are you doing here Charlie?" She asked sounding very nasally from the crying and not quite making eye contact with Quinn.

"I saw you crying and I just wanted to comfort you." Quinn said honestly and when Harmony saw that she started crying again and leant her head against Quinn's chest and her arm's went around Quinn's waist. Quinn returned the embrace fiercely, rested her head on top of Harmony's and rubbed her back softly as she whispered comforting words.

The football players who had been practising on the field were finishing up and heading inside to the showers by the time that Harmony finally calmed down enough to talk to her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Quinn asked.

"Joe dumped me." Harmony stated and Quinn felt a mix of emotions. She was happy that Harmony was away from that jerk but she definitely didn't want to see her little girl unhappy.

"Why?" Quinn asked legitimately confused because whether she liked it or not the couple had seemed fairly happy together.

"Because I wouldn't have sex with him. He asked me for it before basketball practice this morning and when I refused to give up my virginity in an equipment cupboard he broke up with me." Tears had started to gather in the corners of her eyes again and Quinn wanted to put a stop to that.

"Look at me Harmony." When she could see those red rimmed brown eyes she carried on, "You are an amazing girl and one day you will find someone who treats you the way you deserve to be treated. Their whole world will revolve around you. Wait for that person who truly loves you." Quinn prayed that Harmony would accept her advice because it killed her to see her baby so devastated.

It was when Harmony started to lean towards her that she got confused and it wasn't until their lips were an inch apart that Quinn realised what she was trying to do and panicked. She leant away from Harmony but the girl just kept on coming until Quinn found herself in an even worse position. She had moved back so far she was led on the bench and now Harmony was led on top of her and she was trapped.

There was only one way she could think of to escape so she just went for it. Quinn had to physically lift the girl off her and planted her down on the bench as she slid out from underneath and stood next to her.

Harmony seemed slightly put out and rejected but seemed to think that Quinn was playing hard to get and so with a seductive smile she stood next to the blonde and ran her hand along her arm. Quinn jumped down so that she was stood on the bench below and trying not to smile awkwardly as they were now at eye level. This development seemed to please Harmony and so Quinn took yet another step down to put more distance between them.

"So I was wondering if you might want to go to a performance for this band I know on Friday night?" Quinn asked and then realised that it sounded like she was asking her out and so quickly added, "And you can totally bring all your friends because we need a big crowd."

Harmony's smile dimmed a little at that but she walked towards Quinn and running a hand down her back she whispered in her ear, "I'll be there," before walking back into the school as the first bell rang.

Quinn wanted to throw herself over the balcony because of what had happened just so she wouldn't have to think about the fact her daughter had tried to come on to her. She contained the suicidal urge and instead wandered back to the art classroom and seeing it was empty during first period, she skipped her class and finished the posters.

By lunch time the school was covered with them and everyone was talking about the hot new band they were going to see on Friday night.

XXXXX

Sam had never felt more nervous in his entire life. Not even when he was in the Ohio state chess finals and his opponent had nearly beaten him or the time when he watched his best friend in the state championship basketball game.

He rubbed his palms on his jeans and took a deep breathe before hiding the large bunch of flowers in his hands behind his back and knocking on the door.

He heard a beautiful melodic voice tell him to enter and he shivered in anticipation before he pushed open the door.

To say that Mercedes was surprised to see the blonde man smiling happily in her doorway would be an understatement though from the number of calls he was leaving with her secretary she should have known he would show up sooner or later. She did cheer up slightly at his presence, though she would hate to admit it, she put on her well practised stern face and pretended to sort paperwork as she addressed him.

"I am a very busy woman Mr Evans. It is unprofessional of you to leave so many messages especially the ones asking me out." She looked up at the end as he held out a large and expensive looking bunch of flowers and tried to justify himself.

"I don't have your home number." He once again shot her that charming smile and she found herself melting a little. When she didn't take the flowers from him after a few moments he simply laid them on her desk and started rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

"Would you like to go to dinner with me?" He asked her again shyly and barely making eye contact. She found him absolutely adorable and found it physically impossible to refuse the puppy dog eyes. Taking a piece of scrap paper she scribbled something down on it and then passed it to the blonde man before going back to her work.

Sam opened the paper curiously and it contained a phone number and underneath it read, 'My home number.' He smiled knowing that he was finally getting a chance and practically skipped out of the room as he said, "I'll see you on Friday."

Once the door was closed behind him Mercedes let a huge grin break out on her face as well.

XXXXX

The more time Quinn spent working on the yard with Rachel the more she missed just being able to hold her wife or just reach over and move a stray strand of hair out of the brunette's eyes.

She realised that she had started staring at Rachel and it would be an incredibly awkward position to be caught in if Rachel looked up so she quickly busied herself with the decking she was trying to lay.

As Quinn remembered one of her main goals for the day she let her eyes wander back over to Rachel who was busying herself with planting flowers. Quinn wanted to ask her if she wanted to come to The Basement to watch Puck-heads play on Friday night and she even had a back up plan saying that Ali would need a ride seeing as Quinn had to get there early so that was why Rachel had to go. In reality Quinn just wanted to see more of the woman outside of this project.

Finally plucking up the courage, Quinn put down the plank of decking and drill she had been holding for the past five minutes as she stared and walked up behind Rachel, tapping her shoulder to get her attention.

Rachel swivelled around and stood up with those big brown attentive eyes boring into her and Quinn found herself temporarily tongue tied as she tried not to get lost in those eyes. She swallowed and thought of words she could use.

"Hi." It was pathetic but she didn't want to stand there looking at her with a vacant smile. She hadn't even felt this nervous when she asked Rachel out the first time and this wasn't even really a date.

"Hey there." Rachel responded with a patient smile, clearly willing to give Quinn the time she needed to say what she wanted to say.

"So my friend Puck that I told you about, the bartender guy, is in a band and he is playing on Friday night for the first time since I started helping them out. I was wondering if you would want to come and help fill out the crowd a little so it doesn't look like I completely failed at helping them with the advertisement of their band." She was rambling, she did realise that but Rachel refused to stop her and just watched attentively with an amused little smile on her face.

"Why are you letting me keep rambling?" Quinn asked already somewhat embarrassed.

"Because its adorable and to answer your question, I would love to come on Friday night."

"Awesome." Quinn replied simply but bursting with joy on the inside.

"Where has that cute rambling gone now?" Rachel asked teasingly.

"I'm just really excited for Friday." Quinn replied honestly.

**A/N: Please review...**


	8. What I Really Want To Say

**A/N: Lovin' the reviews guys so thanks. I took a couple of your suggestions and kind of ran with it. This chapter is going to show a lot of flashbacks about Quinn's high school life the first time around. It will also include Santana and Brittany as you guys requested. I was planning on including Brittany in this chapter anyway and so I'm glad that you guys actually want the addition. Hope you enjoy...**

Friday was going to be a good day but only if she could find the manager of The Band House and convince him that Puck-heads would be a perfect addition to the bands he already had playing at his bar.

She had never been to this place before but she had heard that it was very popular and she was sure it was the right next step for the boys. However the manager seemed to be a very allusive person although every member of staff she spoke to told her that the manager was in the bar and would turn up eventually, Quinn had been waiting for about 45 minutes and had yet to see any sign.

After about half an hour one of the bar staff had taken pity on her and brought her a beer on the house for her troubles but she wanted to be at her best for her sales pitch and so the glass was still mostly full.

When her waiting reached the hour mark she was finally put out of her misery as a blonde blur came bouncing out of the door that led to the beer storage area and sped across to the bar where she took a seat on a stool and ordered a plate of marshmallows. As soon as they were delivered she started eating them happily and Quinn was shocked. Not because they sold marshmallows in a bar, not that she had seen the woman pay for them anyway, but because even from the back she would know that person a mile away.

"Brittany?" Quinn called and laughed when the girl's first reaction was to look up at the ceiling when her name was called before the taller blonde turned to face Quinn.

"Quinn? Oh my gosh, its so great to see you. What are you doing here?" Brittany asked happily as she wrapped Quinn in a one armed hug as her other hand held onto her plate.

"I've come to see the manager and I guess I just found her." Quinn chuckled as everything clicked into place especially how the staff had said she would turn up eventually.

"Yep, I'm the manager, Sanny bought this place for me because I love music and now I get to choose the music lots of people get to listen to. Its really fun!" Brittany squealed and jumped up and down a little. It was then that it finally hit her.

"Brittany you called me Quinn." It was a statement and Brittany looked confused.

"Of course I did, that is your name." She spoke as if it should be obvious.

"But I don't look like the woman you know." Quinn probed further.

"Yes you do, you just look a little younger. Did you get your hair cut?" She asked looking at Quinn's shorter hair.

"Britt, I'm 17 years old." Quinn stated completely ignoring the question and trying to show her friend the seriousness of the situation.

"I know, I saw you at the basketball game on Friday but I didn't say hi because San dragged me away." Brittany finished her sentence with a pout that would have made a stone melt.

Quinn would have questioned her further on how she believed all of this stuff straight off the bat but she had known Brittany for a long time and just accepted it. It was also nice to have somebody else know about what was happening to her. Someone who she had known for so many years and who had always been there for her when she really needed it.

_FLASHBACK_

_September 3rd 1988_

_Going to a new school is nerve racking for every student and Quinn knew that there were loads of other kids that were feeling the first day nerves the same as she was. However Quinn did have the added pressure of trying out for a team. _

_When she had woken up that morning she hadn't known what team she wanted to try out for, although she obviously had her preferences, she just knew that if she was going to be accepted at McKinley High School she had to be wearing a varsity jacket by the time the first bell rang on Monday morning._

_The majority of the athletic clubs in McKinley demanded that try outs were the week before school started so that they could have a couple of practices before the Freshman had to worry about school work as well. That was why on her last week of summer, Quinn was trudging towards her new high school trying not to make the fear she felt obvious on her face._

_There were hundreds of other kids already hanging around the school which made Quinn even more apprehensive especially as they were all giving her the once over to see if they would need to bully her starting the following week._

_She sucked it all up and headed out onto the football pitch at the side of the school where there were two separate groups, one of all boys and one of all girls. Shocking anyone who was watching her, which was relatively few people in comparison to when she was at the front of the school, she walked over to the group of boys who were laughing and joking around and went to talk to the large woman, with short curly brown hair that was standing in front of them._

"_Excuse me Ma'am, is this the try outs for the football team?" Quinn asked very politely and a few of the boys close by turned to look in fascination at the pink haired girl._

"_Girly, this is an all boys team." The Coach said gently as if trying to not hurt her feelings._

"_I assure you Coach that I am as good if not better than any boy." Quinn allowed some of the patented Fabray confidence to shine through hoping to impress the woman._

"_I'm sorry, I wouldn't even be allowed to put a team on that field to play for two seconds if there was a girl in pads out there." The woman looked genuinely sorry and turned away effectively dismissing her._

_The thought crossed her mind to fight for a position but she knew she would be unlikely to get it and besides she enjoyed football but it definitely wasn't her favourite sport. She had tried for football first because she knew it was what her Dad wanted her to do but now she was free to go inside to try out for a sport she loved with all her heart. Basketball. _

_She had walked to the edge of the field where the group of girls were being lined up as the boys spread out across the pitch for the Coach to see their skills and felt something ram into the back of her. She was spitting grass out of her mouth as she heard a vile voice whisper in her ear, "Get the hell out of our school you dyke." The pressure was removed from her back as the football player who had ran into her got to his feet and he had ran away before she could say anything._

_Quinn was contemplating whether or not to chase after him and bring the pain but the guy was_ _pretty huge and could probably crush her if he really wanted to so she decided to lay in the grass instead for just a moment. _

_When a shadow crossed her face Quinn immediately looked up to see kind, bright blues eyes staring at her and the girl was holding out a hand to help Quinn up. The girl looked so honest that Quinn was sure it was not a trick and so let herself be helped to her feet. _

"_My name is Brittany. S. Pierce. What's yours?" Brittany asked with the biggest smile she had ever seen and it made her want to smile back._

"_Quinn Fabray. Thanks for the help Brittany." Quinn responded as the girl started drumming her fingers on her sides in time to a beat only she could hear._

"_Its no problem, I always help my friends." Brittany said simply._

"_I don't know you." Quinn stated honestly, wondering why this girl thought they were friends._

"_Yes you do. I'm Brittany. S. Pierce." She repeated her name. _

"_Well then Brittany, can I tell you a secret?" The blonde nodded eagerly and Quinn continued, "I'm really glad that you are the first friend I've made at this school."_

_END OF FLASHBACK_

Moving back to the original reason she came to the bar, Quinn asked, "Britt I was wondering if you could do me a favour?"

"Of course I can." Brittany replied eagerly.

"I know a band that are really good and I was wondering if you would let them play in your bar?" Quinn asked hoping that one of her oldest friends would give her the break she so desperately wanted.

"Well I will have to see them perform first but if they are good like you say then I have no problems with hiring them for the bar." It was a very reasonable business move and Quinn stopped wondering how the bar had survived so long with Brittany in charge. Clearly she knew what she was doing.

"They have a performance on Friday night at The Basement if you want to come and watch them." Quinn offered.

"I would love that and maybe we can hang out some more because I haven't seen you in like months and I miss you Q." Brittany said bringing out the pout again and Quinn knew she was powerless to resist. Not that she would want to resist because she had honestly missed the bubbly blonde as well.

"I miss you too Britt but I'll see you soon." They hugged as they parted and as Quinn stepped out onto the bright streets of Lima she couldn't help but smile and mutter to herself under her breathe in a secret agent voice, "Step one accomplished."

XXXXX

"OK boys, step two of our little operation is called, 'Create a kick ass set list so that when my friend comes to see you on Friday, you blow her mind." Quinn informed the trio as she sat back in a lazy boy chair, reclined it and looked at them expectantly.

Puck was sat on his amp in the basement of his house and looked surprised that she was expecting them to do something. He looked at the other two, Sebastian who was combing his hair in the corner and Matt who was sat behind the drums with a blank look on his face, and then Puck looked back at Quinn with a shrug of his shoulders as if to say, 'We got nothing.'

"Come on guys, I got you this opportunity so you just need to pick your best songs and put them together in a way that makes the audience love you." When three blank faces continued to stare at here she sighed and asked, "How many songs have you guys written?"

"Eight. Maybe we should play them all back to back!" Puck said excitedly as if he had just had the best idea in the world.

"Maybe not man our usual set list is five songs, we should stick to the same as we do every week." Matt said looking sceptical at Puck's idea and then looking to Quinn for confirmation and she simply nodded in response.

"Well if we are only doing five then we should stick to ones that we know are crowd pleasers." Sebastian finally contributed to the conversation, turning around and putting his comb in his pocket and Quinn suddenly found herself wondering how the comb had not gotten any gel on it after going through Sebastian's heavily gelled hair.

She was pulled from that train of thought when Puck responded, "Now way, we need to write all new songs for this thing."

"That's crazy, we know that people like our old songs and we need to play ones that we know will be hits because this is our big chance." Sebastian started arguing back.

Puck stood up and opened his mouth, clearly ready to fight for his point of view when Matt, still sitting behind his drums, said quietly, "What is our Manager's opinion on this?"

Three sets of eyes turned to her expecting her to solve this debate but she was sill stuck on what Matt had called her.

"I'm your manager?" She asked unsurely.

"Of course you are. With all the work you've put in already you have at very least earned that title." Matt said with a sincerity that made Quinn smile.

"OK then, well I am sorry to say Puck that Sebastian is right. You need the safe bet for Friday especially because you know that those songs will kill. It is not a night you want to take risks on." Puck looked disheartened momentarily before his face lit up.

"Fine but that means I get to sing the lead for at least three songs, deal?" He bargained looking at Quinn and Sebastian spun to look at her as well with outrage evident on his face

"You can't let him do that!" Sebastian practically shouted.

"I can Sebastian because he is the best singer." It was blunt and it shut the brunette boy up, a fact which the other three people in the room appreciated greatly.

_FLASHBACK_

_5th April 1989_

_The first time that Quinn ever smoked a cigarette was the morning before their glee club regionals competition. She had only joined the club because of Rachel. From the first moment she had seen the tiny brunette on the first day of school she had been hooked. Despite the fact that Quinn had been displaying stalker like tendencies, she had followed Rachel into the auditorium and sat in the very back row as she walked up onto the stage and into the spotlight. _

_She shot a brilliant smile at the bald man with a pink shirt sitting in the front row and proceeded to sing her heart out. It was then that Quinn knew that she was screwed and that, above all else, she really needed to get to know this girl. _

_When Quinn found out that what she had been watching was Rachel's glee club audition she had spent the whole of that night preparing a song to sing so that she could join the club and get to know the beautiful brunette better._

_To say it was a disappointment to walk into the choir room and see some guy sat with his arm around Rachel in the front row would be an understatement. She was devastated but she powered through knowing that being a part of the glee club meant she would probably at least become Rachel's friend and that was definitely something she wanted._

_She had managed to become friends with Rachel and that was why it made her so upset to see Rachel broken because the schools they were competing against at regionals had stolen their songs. Quinn decided that it was better if she leave it to Rachel's boyfriend, Jesse, to comfort the little diva as when she saw Jesse hold Rachel and kiss her on the forehead it literally felt like her heart was being smashed._

_It was better for everyone that she had popped outside for some fresh air. She found a pillar and leant against it as she watched various people from the opposition schools milling around the area. Not two minutes had passed before someone leant next to her and pulled out a pack of cigarettes._

_Of course the person had been Jesse St James because obviously the world hated Quinn Fabray. He quickly lit a cigarette and took a long drag before offering her one. She was going to say no but the thought that the little stick might calm her down caused her to take one and let Jesse light it for her. Taking a small puff to begin with she managed to not cough up a lung and already felt her pre show nerves calming._

"_One is never enough." Jesse exclaimed as he lit a second for himself and passed her a second before walking off to talk to some students he knew from other schools. Quinn looked at the second one and decided that the one was working well enough for her and just started twirling it in her fingers._

_It had become a habit for her. Quinn wasn't a regular smoker, she only had one when she really felt the need to calm down but every time she did light up she had to have a second unlit cigarette in her other hand so she could twirl it in her fingers. It was a habit._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

Even though Quinn had smoked for the past 22 years, her kids didn't know about it. Mostly because she would end up only smoking about one a week and that was usually at work. She also really didn't want them to think that smoking was OK and for them to take up the bad habit themselves. Just because she was addicted it didn't mean she wanted that for her kids.

It did mean that she had never had the privilege of smoking at home not that she often got that stressed out at home to warrant lighting up but it would have been nice to have the option. As she was Charlie however she could probably get away with it and at that moment in time Quinn had never been more grateful.

Quinn probably wouldn't have felt that desperate for a cigarette had it not been for the fact that she had agreed to have a sleepover with Ali the same night that Rachel was trying to integrate Finn into the family.

To say she was stressed would be an understatement.

When Ali announced that they would be watching DVD's in their pj's and then Rachel said she and Harmony wanted to join them, Quinn got excited at the thought that she could could spend the whole night hanging out with her family and eyeing up Rachel's cleavage in the tank top she slept in.

When the doorbell rang and the door opened to reveal the dopey faced Finn Hudson, Quinn let her head fall down on the back of the sofa and felt her hands fiddling with an imaginary cigarette.

"Finn your supposed to be wearing pj's!" Rachel lightly scolded but it didn't look like her heart was in it as she walked back into the room with the large man trailing behind.

"Well I decided normal clothes would be best because I normally sleep naked." He decide to change the tone of his response from statement of fact to a saucy anecdote half way through and it made him look slightly gassy as he pulled his sexy face but Rachel seemed not to notice.

"I guess it doesn't matter. Why don't you take a seat and I'll go get the snacks." Rachel said seemingly a little disappointed that he hadn't made an effort.

"Let me help you." Quinn said already getting up from the sofa.

"No its fine Charlie." Rachel said and walked to the kitchen without a backward glance. Though she really didn't want to hurt Quinn she felt a need to pull away from the teenager because she thought they were getting too close. They had almost kissed for heavens sake.

Quinn was confused with Rachel's actions but decided that she shouldn't push such a trivial issue and took her seat again.

"We better not be watching a chick flick or something." Finn grumbled from his newly acquired position on the reclining arm chair.

"No man, I wouldn't worry about that. I think with you here we should have the majority for a zombie movie." Ali said enthusiastically at the thought of spending the evening watching things get torn apart.

"What kind of chick likes zombie movies?" Finn asked with a hint of something nasty in his voice.

"Me and Charlie do, there's nothing wrong with that." Ali defended looking shocked at the man.

"Yeah nothing wrong if your a couple of dykes." Finn sneered under his breathe with obvious venom and then multiple things happened at once. Harmony gasped, Ali looked hurt, Quinn jumped out of her seat and started advancing on the dim witted oaf and Rachel walked back into the room, carrying a tray of snacks and managed to get in between Quinn and the oblivious Finn.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked Quinn have to physically restrain her from getting closer to the man.

"That bumbling oaf of a man child does know when to keep his damn mouth closed." Quinn started.

"Charlie its not worth it." Harmony said quietly and when Quinn turned to look at her she noticed Ali sat dead still, pale and looking like she had just been smacked across the face.

Quinn realised that her daughter was right and just nodded her head and then walked out of the room. She made a quick stop into her and Rachel's bedroom and quickly fished an old pack of cigarettes and a lighter out from underneath a loose floorboard and then carried on to walk out to the back yard.

As soon as the screen door was closed behind her she immediately lit up and let the smoke calm her. A part of her still wanted to go back in the house, whether to comfort Ali or to beat the crap out of Finn she couldn't be sure and so she stayed put.

The thought crossed her mind that Jesse had been right when he said that one was never enough and she lit up a second one when the first one was done and felt grateful that there had been three left in the pack so that she still had something to twirl in her fingers.

She couldn't help but appreciate how well the yard was coming together. Her and Rachel had put a lot of work into it and it was nearly done but there was still a few things left to do. Quinn couldn't help but feel proud that for once she might actually be able to finish something in her life.

Lost in her thoughts she didn't hear the screen door slide open and closed and didn't see Rachel until she leant against the fence next to her. Rachel just really needed to know what had just happened and so waited for the girl to notice her. Quinn hid her surprise at the sudden appearance of the brunette well and took a deep drag of the cigarette, ensuring that when she exhaled she blew the smoke away from the smaller woman.

"You smoke." It was a statement.

"Only when I'm stressed." Quinn responded still not looking directly at Rachel. If Quinn had looked she would have seen something strange in those deep brown eyes. Rachel had come out to talk and maybe yell at Quinn because she had been about to attack Finn but when she saw the blonde smoking and fiddling with another cigarette whilst she did it, Rachel had been struck with how much Charlie had looked like Quinn. It took the anger out of her and just made her sad and tired and just upset over how the last few months of her life had been.

Still staring at Quinn's fingers playing with the white stick in the same way her wife did, she didn't realise that Quinn was looking at her until she said, "You probably shouldn't leave your kids alone in there with him. He seems like quite a hate filled man."

"What did he do, nobody in there will say?" Rachel asked and Quinn stubbed her cigarette out on the ground and pocketed the third one in case she needed it later. She sighed because she knew that Rachel needed to hear what he had said so she could realise he was a jerk but Quinn really didn't want to use that word. These were desperate times however so she looked Rachel straight in the eye and said, "He called your daughter a dyke."

Quinn wasn't sure how she thought Rachel would react. Maybe she would slap Finn or get quiet or angry but what Quinn wouldn't have thought would happen was that she would look shocked and then defend him.

"I'm sure he didn't mean it Charlie. He is a little slow, perhaps he doesn't know what that word means?" Quinn was gob-smacked and let her mouth fall open a little bit in disbelief.

"He knew what he meant Rachel, the hatred in his voice clearly displayed his intent. Don't try to defend him." Quinn's voice was raising as she spoke because she couldn't believe that Rachel was trying to justify what he said.

"Everyone deserves a second chance." She said quietly.

It knocked the wind out of her sails and although Rachel clearly hadn't meant it as a jab at her as Rachel only saw her as Charlie, she had still taken it to heart and knew she would need the same off Rachel if she was ever going to be with her wife again. So she did the only thing she could think to do. She left.

When she got into her car, thankful that she had her keys but wishing that she also had her clothes, she just drove off without looking back. She was kind of grateful that she slept in a vest and boxers because it meant she was slightly less exposed than Rachel would have been if she was the one that left but she was still getting cold.

When she spotted that house she knew it was the obvious place to go, especially as she didn't feel like going home tonight. She pulled up outside and not caring that she was pretty much baring all she went up and knocked the door.

It opened to show a middle aged, Latina woman, wrapped in a dressing gown and seemingly annoyed by the presence of a half dressed teenager on her porch.

"If your hear for a booty call then you will be unhappy to know that Sugar is about to be grounded for the next..." She checked her imaginary watch for dramatic effect, "...lifetime, so if you could come back then, that would be great."

Quinn barely managed to catch the door before it slammed in her face and she couldn't help but smile wryly at her old friend's antics.

"Calm the attitude Lopez, I'm here to see Brittany." Quinn said teasingly. Santana looked stunned for a moment then just looked at Quinn. All of a sudden comprehension lit up in the dark eyes and a sly smile spread across Santana's face.

"Well your not getting a booty call off Britt either Fabray so get your ass off my property." Santana joked.

"You know its me?" Santana nodded. "Did Brittany tell you?" Quinn asked.

"She did mention it but I didn't believe her until I just saw you. God wouldn't be so cruel as to make two people in this world that ugly." She laughed at her own joke.

"Yeah, yeah Lopez, laugh it up but let me in before I freeze my junk off stood on your porch." Quinn complained, shifting from one foot to the other as her bare feet started to go numb from standing on the cold concrete for too long.

"Well we wouldn't want that, I'm allergic to nuts." Santana joked and they both laughed at the double meaning.

"So Fabray would you life to tell me why you decided to visit me as a teenager in their underwear?" Santana asked once they were seated in the living room.

"Its a long story." Quinn warned.

"I've got time." Santana replied with a tilt of her head and made herself comfortable in her chair. It was times like this that Quinn remembered why she was friends with the sometimes bitchy Santana Lopez.

_FLASHBACK _

_September 10th 1988_

_The first day of school at McKinley High was the first time that Quinn Fabray met Santana Lopez. Although Quinn had been hearing about her since her first basketball practice. Santana Lopez was the girl that was so good that the Coach didn't even have to see her try out or demand that she come to summer practices in order for her to be on the team. Apparently she had been out of town for the week of try-outs but Coach knew her mother and apparently knew the girl's skill and so she was automatically given a place._

_Most of the other girls on the team had been jealous of the favouritism that was being shown towards the mysterious girl but Quinn was just curious. She wanted to see if this girl was as good as Coach said and she really hoped she was because that would give them a good shot at getting somewhere in the leagues._

_The first official day of school Coach Sylvester had organised a practice so the team could get acquainted with Santana and Quinn was very excited and so was the first person out of the locker room. _

_When she made it to the court she saw a girl with long black hair which was tied back, shooting a basket from the half way line._

"_If you can do that with three seconds left on the clock then we might stand a chance of getting somewhere this year." Quinn said, getting the girl's attention._

"_Don't worry about me blondie, I can handle myself on the court." Santana responded and shot another basket._

"_I can see that." Quinn replied with sincerity and Santana turned to look at her with a scrutinising stare. After a few moments she seemed to agree with what she saw as she nodded her head a little then introduced herself. "Santana Lopez." _

"_Quinn Fabray." _

"_Well then Fabray, lets see what you got." _

_When the rest of the team finally made it out of the locker room the two girls on the court were drenched in sweat and facing off for the ball for the hundredth time. _

"_That's enough ladies, as entertaining as that was, its time to start practice." Sue said as she walked down from the top of the bleachers where she had been watching the entire exchange._

"_Good game Fabray." Santana complimented giving the blonde a high five._

"_You too Lopez." _

_From that point on they had been friends although it was mostly friendly insults and basketball that bonded them, they still had each others back especially with Brittany constantly encouraging them to be friends. Her and Santana had apparently been friends from birth and so Brittany was really happy when she found out that Santana was cool with Quinn. Santana didn't make friends easily. It wasn't that she couldn't but that she didn't want to. _

_That was fine with Quinn though because it just meant that Santana trusted her more than other people and although Santana did sometimes come off as a bitch, Quinn would still trust Santana with her life._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

"Someone really needs to sought out the hobbit, I mean since when does she just let people do that crap in her house?" Santana questioned when Quinn had finished her story.

"I don't know." Quinn responded and she really didn't know. She felt like Rachel was slowly slipping away from her and there was nothing she could do about it.

XXXXX

In the past she had complained about Santana's methods of helping a situation mainly because they involved getting incredibly drunk and Quinn either got pathetic or violent when drunk. Lucky for Santana, Finn and even Quinn herself she had turned into a pathetic drunk after about 5 beers at Santana's house. Both Brittany and Sugar had gone out for the night so Quinn and Santana had the house all to themselves as they drunk the night away.

It was about one in the morning when Quinn stumbled into her house, trying desperately not to wake Sam but tripped over her own feet shortly after she had quietly closed the front door. She couldn't find it within herself to care about the fact that she had school in the morning as she collapsed on the sofa and turned the TV on. She was going to sleep in tomorrow instead of going to school so what was the point of going to bed right now?

About 5 minutes into a rerun of Law and Order when the phone started ringing and Quinn couldn't find it within herself to answer it. It went to the machine and after the beep the soft, calming voice of Rachel floated to her across the room.

"Hello Quinn its me, Rachel. I know it was stupid to call you this late. Your probably asleep right now but I just really wanted to talk to you. I saw something tonight that reminded me of you and you wouldn't seem to get out of my head. I feel kind of lost right now and whenever I felt lost in the past you always had this knack for grounding me and bringing me back home so I suppose I just hoped you could do that for me now."

"Quinn...I...I miss you. I wish I could just talk to you so when you get this message could you just call me back? Good night Quinn."

The message cut off and Quinn had never felt more awake. Rachel had said she missed her and that she needed her. It gave her hope and it made her heart fill to bursting point. She didn't want to talk to Finn, she wanted to talk to her and even if Rachel and Charlie weren't on the best of terms she knew Rachel was feeling bad and reaching out to her wife. Quinn would be damned if she didn't respond.

XXXXX

The bravery of a drunken Quinn Fabray was something that far outweighed the bravery of a sober Quinn Fabray. The plan to phone Rachel and confess her undying love had disappeared into a hang over and was replaced by the insecurities that Quinn had that had led to the marital issues the couple had suffered over the past few years.

Quinn didn't feel like she was good enough, that she could never do anything good or be anyone good. She was unhappy with who she was and that transferred into her feeling that she shouldn't have what she wants. It was messed up and she knew it but it still meant that she was not going to call Rachel back.

At the end of the day she was too much of a coward.

She did realise that she was going to have to see Rachel on Friday night seeing as she had invited her but that would just bring up the Rachel/Charlie issues and not the Rachel/Quinn issues. She was fairly sure she could handle it.

The Basement was fairly empty when Quinn arrived on Friday night but in fairness she was about three hours early. She made her way into the back room that the three boys had claimed as their own with the manager and set down the multiple bags she had brought in from her car.

When the boys wandered in 15 minutes later she had set out the three outfits she had brought into three separate piles and as she was walking out of the room she called over her shoulder, "Put those on, I'm going to speak to the manager and I'll be back in 10 minutes to work on your entrance."

The bar slowly started to fill up over the next couple of hours and Quinn was quietly optimistic that they could fill the room. She had discussed with the boys how they could make their entrance onto the stage look smooth and as they did the few necessary things to set up that they should rile up the crowd a little.

Ten minutes before they were due to go on she gave Puck and Matt a hug, slapped Sebastian on the back and went to see if Brittany had remembered to show up to watch the band and also if Rachel had showed.

Automatically she spotted Brittany with the tall blonde towering over the majority of people in her vicinity and made her way over to the little group of three.

"Charlie, I was wondering where you were since you told us to come and all." Sugar squealed and pulled Quinn in for a quick hug. Santana shot her a wtf look which she waved off.

"Well I was having a few last minute words with the band. Hopefully they will blow your mind tonight." Quinn responded. Sugar nodded and turned to talk to Brittany excitedly and Santana moved up next to her.

"What the hell kind of name is Charlie?" She asked mockingly.

"I think it kind of fits." Quinn replied honestly and was distracted from hearing Santana's retort as she saw Rachel enter the bar.

It was like it was their first date all over again when Quinn spotted her. Rachel looked absolutely gorgeous. She knew this wasn't a date but Quinn had asked her specifically to come and she had and now Quinn felt her breathing pick up and she was definitely starting to sweat.

She turned to lean against the bar and took deep breathes to calm the intense nerves she was feeling and her mind flashed back to the day that she had asked Rachel out and how the feelings from then and now were exactly the same..

_FLASHBACK _

_12th July 1990_

_That summer had been a massive turning point in Quinn's life. It was the first time she dyed her hair pink and cut it short, it was the first time she wore dark, ripped up clothes, the first time she got a tattoo and most importantly it was the first time she had tried to survive without her Dad._

_Her father meant the world to her. He had supported her when she said she was gay, he attended everyone of her basketball games and glee competitions and he was always just there for her._

_Until suddenly Russell Fabray was just gone. One drug addled driver and all it took was approximately 3.2 seconds from impact for her father to die._

_It left Quinn angry and confused and upset but most of all she felt the need to do everything she was always to scared to do. _

_That was how she found herself stood waiting for the small jet to touch down on the runway so that she could fly a mile into the air and throw herself out. Her mother had thought that this was her way of trying to kill herself without her taking a razor to her wrist or something equally as drastic but in reality she just wanted to seize the day._

_So when Rachel Berry walked passed, carrying a paper bag and whistling the song they had sung at Nationals in glee club, quietly to herself, the voice of her fathers came to her mind and whispered, 'go get her.' _

"_Hey Rach." Quinn called not knowing how else to get the brunette's attention._

"_Oh hello Quinn?" She managed to remain fairly polite despite the fact that what she was seeing was not the Quinn Fabray she was used to. She hadn't seen the former blonde for only about three weeks but it still shocked her how much could change in such a short time._

"_What are you doing here?" Quinn questioned very glad that for whatever reason she was here._

"_I have come to drop off this lunch for my Daddy, he works as a pilot here." Rachel explained holding up the bag she was holding."What are you doing?" Rachel asks with genuine interest._

"_I've come to sky dive." Quinn said simply with excitement clear on her face._

"_Wow Quinn, how very daring of you." Rachel states and they both turned to look to the sky as the sound of a plane getting closer filled the air. They both watched in silence as the plane was smoothly landed and both walked over to the large African American man that was flying the plane. _

"_Oh Rae sweetheart, you didn't have to bring me lunch." Leroy Berry smiled down at his daughter and happily took the bag and swallowed one of the sandwiches in three quick bites._

"_I wanted to spend time with you Daddy." Rachel responded innocently enough but the man instantly looked guilty._

"_Well how about you come up on this next flight and we can talk a bit? How does that sound?" Leroy asked hopefully in an attempt to appease the girl._

"_That sounds wonderful Daddy and I'm sure Quinn wouldn't mind would you?" Rachel turned to the pink haired girl who swiftly indicated she wouldn't mind and the brunette's face lit up._

_On the journey up, Quinn couldn't help but stare at Rachel as her and her daddy talked and laughed together. She really looked beautiful with that full smile on her face and Quinn was getting to see it more and more as Rachel got over her break up with Jesse. It helped that the boy had moved to Carmel High so they didn't have to see his smarmy face any more. The distance had really helped Rachel move on, that and the fact that three anonymous members of the glee club and gotten back at Jesse for egging Rachel and then breaking up with her due to peer pressure by egging his house. Not that Quinn, Santana and Sam were proud of what they had done but they had all high fived each other when Mr Ryerson had given the news. It was kind of a give away._

_The thought crossed her mind that if she was seizing the day in other aspects of her life then she should probably do it in regards to Rachel as Leroy's voice called back to her saying to get ready to jump out and asking her if she remembered what to do. She nodded the affirmative and then stood next to the open door ready to go when she suddenly turned back and just decided to go for it._

_She was nervous, damn was she nervous and she felt like she would rather fall out of the plane without a parachute than face Rachel's possible rejection but the voice of her father came into her mind and she decided to just go for it._

"_Hey Rach, I was wondering if maybe there is any chance that you might possibly consider going out on a date with me tonight?" It wasn't very smooth and to be completely honest Rachel looked shocked but at least she had been clear and given it a shot. Now she just had to wait for the answer._

_Before Rachel even had the chance to consider responding, the plane hit some turbulence which shook the plane violently and resulted in Quinn falling out of the open door and into the 37,000 feet of empty air between Rachel and the ground._

_Thankfully she was allowed to free fall for a couple thousand feet before pulling the cord on her parachute and so avoided killing herself but the whole way down her mind was racing, wondering what Rachel's answer was going to be. The waiting was killing her._

_She hit the ground having finally been able to appreciate the exhilarating experience and unclipped herself from her parachute and went to the locker where her valuables were kept._

_As soon as she picked up her phone the first thing she noticed was a message from Rachel and her breathing automatically sped up as she opened the text._

_From Rachel: Pick me up at 7_

_END OF FLASHBACK _

By the time that the first bar of the first song had been played by Puck-heads she knew that they had sealed the deal. The crowd had already started to go crazy, Brittany had pulled a reluctant Santana onto the dance floor and Quinn felt herself relax. The boys had managed to pull off their smooth entrance which Quinn was glad about as Brittany's hawk eyes had been observing them closely since they came into her line of sight. Brittany had always been a good judge of character and so Quinn knew it would have taken her only the first few beats of the song to make a decision.

With the knowledge that their fate was decided one way or the other by now Quinn decided to just relax and enjoy the evening and sent a grin across the bar towards Rachel despite the fact that Rachel had stayed away from her so far that night. She wasn't going to let it get to her and when Rachel smiled back a little she couldn't help but feel like it was a win.

XXXXX

It was two o'clock in the morning and Quinn found herself sat in front of the phone in the darkened living room of Sam's house. She hadn't been able to sleep since she got home from The Basement and so when she heard Sam go to bed she took it upon herself to wander through the blackness for a couple of hours and let her thoughts fill her mind.

The top thought banging into her subconscious was of course, Rachel. More importantly the fact that she hadn't called her back as Quinn because she was too much of a coward. She really wanted to be with Rachel but not as Charlie because even she would have to admit that it would be a bit weird but it did mean that she would have to try to build up their relationship as Quinn without Rachel seeing her.

It was the courage that can sometimes come about as a result of regret that got her to pick up the phone and dial the familiar number.

"_Hey you've reached the Fabray family, leave a message."_

Rachel's chirpy voice spread across the line and Quinn couldn't help but feel her heart warm that Rachel had yet to change the message whether purposefully or not. She tried to sound like her older self a little more by adding a bit of a croak to her voice, probably a little to do with the cigarettes, as she left a message.

"Hey Rach, its Quinn. I'm sorry its taken me so long to call you back but I guess I was too much of a coward."

"What I really want to say to you Rach... is that I love you. With all my heart from the first moment I met you and followed you into the auditorium. I need you to know that I will always follow you, wherever you go... as long as you'll let me."

**A/N: Well I hope you enjoyed that extra long chapter and I should be able to update much more regularly as my exams are over now! **

**How do you feel about the Puck-heads? Do you want me to keep Finn around to annoy Quinn? Tell me what you think...**


	9. Make A Deal

**A/N: Hey there guys, I just wanted to thank everyone who reviewed because you guys give me so much inspiration for this story. 14 reviews on the last chapter, its totally a new personal best for me.**

**I know some of you were wondering why Rachel, Harmony and Ali acted the way they did last chapter and there is a reason which I will mention in this chapter. I also want to apologize in advance that I don't know anything about American law so I wrote the law in this story in accordance with UK law even thought they are in America. Please don't hate me for it.**

**This story is only going to be 10 chapters long so this is the penultimate chapter, just for you guys to know...**

"Hello?"

"_Hey Quinn, its Brittany."_ Automatically she felt her heartbeat race and her palms sweat. This was it. She thought that Puck-heads had performed well the night before but in the panic of the moment she didn't feel as sure.

"Hey Britt, what's up?" Quinn replied, trying to sound casual and if she failed in her attempt then Brittany was kind enough not to point it out.

"_I wanted to let you know that I was impressed last night. Those boys are every bit as good as you said they were and I want them to play in my bar."_ Brittany said and Quinn could practically hear her smiling down the phone line at the good news she was imparting.

"That is so amazing, thank you so much Britt, they won't let you down, I promise." Quinn felt like jumping up and down in the air in her excitement. She had managed to put them up a step in the music world. It was a small win but it was still a win.

"_Of course they won't let me down when they have a manager like you to keep them in line."_ Brittany complimented and Quinn smiled at the sincerity in her tone.

"Thanks for believing in me."

"_I've always believed in you Q. Now tell the band that they will have half an hour slots to fill on Tuesday's and Thursday's, I may move them to better slots if the regulars like them and they adapt well."_ Brittany explained in her serious voice.

"OK that sounds great, I guess I will see you on Tuesday then?"

"_Yeah totally, bye Q."_

"Bye Britt."

XXXXX

It had been a long time since Sam had been out on a date. His whole life he had often been too afraid to ask girls out and then when he finally managed it, he would always get rejected. He didn't know what gave him the confidence to ask Mercedes out or why he felt so strongly that he needed to be with her but the feeling was there and it was giving him a confidence he never knew he could feel before.

That was until he walked down the stairs, getting ready to go out on the date when Quinn took one quick glance up from the sofa at his outfit and just said 'no' before turning back to the Lakers game on the large, flat screen TV.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Sam asked genuinely confused.

"Is that real crocodile skin?" Quinn asked pointing towards the man's jacket.

"Yeah." Sam answered proudly.

"No." Quinn said as if he shouldn't be proud of that fact then turned to watch the game again.

Sam realised that he should trust Quinn and go change, so he replaced his crocodile skin suit for a normal black one and when he had Quinn's approval he left and drove towards the restaurant where he had agreed to meet Mercedes.

She was already there when he arrived and he had a mini panic attack, thinking he was late when in fact he had turned up 15 minutes early. He walked over to the booth where she was already seated, bowed at her and then sat down opposite her.

"Sorry I was late." Sam apologized and hoped she wasn't upset.

"You weren't late, I was early." Mercedes replied with a smile that clearly showed she was fine.

"A gentleman should always arrive before the lady."

"Well why don't you show me some of your other gentlemanly qualities instead?" Mercedes asked gently trying to let him off the hook and suddenly Sam started to feel the pressure. What if couldn't be a good enough gentleman or she was disappointed by him. He was so confused as to what he should do so he fell back on an old habit.

"Nga lu niftxan lora" Sam spluttered out and then sat in shock to wait to see how she would take his weirdness.

"Thank you, that's a sweet thing to say." Mercedes replied as she picked up a menu and started browsing the options.

"You understood that?" Sam questioned incredulously.

"Yeah you said, 'you are so beautiful'. Are you not used to women who can speak Na'vi?" Mercedes asked with a teasing smirk.

"I think I have fallen in love." Sam said completely deadpan.

"Lets try for dinner first."

XXXXX

Quinn was bored. The Lakers game had finished about twenty minutes ago and she was now watching the highlights of the game that she had just watched. It was turning out to be a slow night. When she heard her phone go off she quickly scooped it out of her pocket, overly keen for something to end her boredom.

The text contained four words that made her world stop and sent her hurling through the front door, only stopping to pick up her car keys. She left her phone on the coffee table in her haste and it was still opened to the text message she had received from Harmony.

From Harmony: _Finn's at the house_

She was sure that if she had been very unlucky and had driven past a police car then she would have been pulled over as she drove to the house because there was no doubt that she was speeding but there were no other options. Ali's fear filled face the last time they had been with Finn kept flashing across her mind and she felt an overwhelming need to protect her daughter. Things must have really been serious if Harmony had contacted her and that made her put her foot down a little more.

She made it to the house in half the time and hadn't really stopped the car properly before she sprinted across the front lawn and just hoped it wouldn't roll into traffic.

Quinn was about to start banging on the front door until it opened when she saw the light on in Ali's room and Harmony's silhouette against the closed blind. It was a quick decision and Quinn suddenly found herself easily climbing the drain pipe to Ali's window and made a brief mental note to do something about how easy it was to get into Ali's room when she was back living with her family.

When she got to the top she tapped on the window and saw Harmony's shadow quickly move further into the room at the sudden noise and groaned at the upper body strength it was taking to hold herself up.

Not being sure how much longer she could cling to the drainpipe, 10 feet in the air, she tapped on the glass again and then called through the glass, "Its Charlie, open up."

Thankfully the blind was immediately moved out of the way and the window opened and she quickly lifted herself into the room.

Once again she saw Ali sat on her bed, pale and looking scared whilst Harmony was pacing and shooting worry filled glances at Ali. On a pace that took her close to Quinn, Harmony asked, "Why did you come in through the window?"

"If Finn is downstairs and I had seen him on my way to you two I don't think I would have been able to control my temper. I think its best we all have a chat before I start considering the pile of crap that is Finn Hudson." Quinn explained already getting a little angry even at the thought of the man, a feeling which was made worse by looking at her youngest daughter's fear filled eyes.

Harmony excepted her answer and went back to pacing in front of the bed whilst Quinn went to sit next to Ali. Ali remained still and didn't look up to acknowledge Quinn's presence, she just continued to stare at a random spot on her bedroom wall.

"Ali?" Ali didn't respond so Quinn carried on, "Ali, I need you to tell me why you are so scared." Her voice was gentle and pleading and Ali seemed to thaw out a little as she let a tear trickle down her face.

"I-I can't..." Ali whispered at Quinn but her eyes locked on Harmony's and they seemed to be having a silent conversation and there was pleading in Ali's eyes until eventually she appeared to give in and directed her attention back to the wall.

There was something that not very many people knew about Harmony Fabray and that was that her family was the most important thing to her and underneath the Head Cheerleader image that she portrayed so well, she loved her baby sister and had always been there for her. That was how from just a few seconds of silent communication with her sister, she knew what Ali needed.

"Charlie, you have to understand that this is difficult for Ali." Harmony began and sat down on the edge of the bed next to Ali's feet and faced Quinn. Quinn nodded quickly showing she understood and left the brunette to gather her thoughts.

"You know that Ali is gay and so do I and my Mama but that's the only people that she has come out to. Some people guess that she is or just assume but we are the only one's she has actually told."

"The problem is that when she told me and Mama we didn't realise that Joe was in the house as well and when he found out he told some of his closest friends on the boys basketball team."

She took a calming breath here and glanced over to Ali to check that she was alright as this story was being told. The girl hadn't moved so Harmony carried on.

"Joe told them to keep it a secret because he was embarrassed to be even loosely associated with a gay person."

"And they didn't keep the secret?" Quinn questioned and Harmony smiled bitterly.

"Oh they kept it a secret alright but they decided that they needed to punish her for being gay. Beat it out of her." A small gasp was heard from the head of the bed and they both looked to Ali to see that she had now curled up on herself and was hugging her knees to her chest with her head buried in them.

Quinn was fast started to feel a mixture of anger and protectiveness and also a little bit sick at what Harmony was suggesting.

"They didn't...?" Quinn trailed off in her question as she couldn't seem to find the right words but luckily Harmony immediately caught on and started violently shaking her head.

"No, no they didn't do _that _but they caught her one day when she was walking home a couple of months ago and they..." It was Harmony that apparently couldn't find the right words this time along with the fact that it looked like she was struggling to hold back tears at the thought of what had happened to her sister.

"They beat the crap out of me." The way that Ali said it, with no emotion in her voice, made Quinn's heart bleed. It was obvious that she wasn't over the pain of what had happened and she hadn't let herself deal with the emotions of it.

"The reason that she is so scared of Finn now is that he reminds her of the boys that did that to her. When he called her that word, the same word they kept calling her, she automatically linked them in her mind." Harmony had clearly talked about everything in depth with Ali and so was able to discuss her feelings concisely when Ali couldn't do it herself.

"You have really been there for her, haven't you?" Quinn asked amazed at the new level that she was seeing from the daughter she had thought had long since given in to the pressures of high school.

"She's my baby sister." Harmony replied simply.

"I can't be in the same room as him." Ali stated almost so quietly that the other two people in the room couldn't hear her.

"Don't worry, I will make sure that you never have to be." Quinn assured her with a confidence that made Ali lift her head and look at her with eyes pleading her for that to be the truth. She rubbed her shoulder softly and then turned to Harmony after a few moments and asked, "How come Rachel or your other mom didn't find out about this or take her to the hospital or counselling or something?"

"I took her to Grandpa Berry and told him that it happened when she was playing basketball but he didn't really seem to believe me. He looked her over, stitched up her cuts and promised to keep it a secret as long as it didn't happen again. Luckily nothing was broken but she did have a concussion and she was covered in cuts and bruises. We used make-up to cover the marks on her face and she had to wear long sleeves for a while." Harmony explained and Quinn nodded, equal parts grateful and annoyed that her daughter was so sneaky.

"We need to come up with a plan to make sure that Finn is nowhere near Ali ever again and we find the boys who beat her up and make sure they go to jail."

"No!" Ali spoke louder than she had spoken all night but it was still only at her normal level and her eyes were panicked.

"Charlie they have left me alone since then and I don't want them to go to jail for the next six months then constantly be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life after they get out and start looking for revenge. Just leave it as it is." Ali explained.

"OK but we still need to do something about Finn." Quinn stated more to Harmony than to Ali.

"What's your plan?" Harmony asked.

"Kick his ass so hard that he forgets how to get to this house and forgets all about Rachel." Quinn answered and Harmony started smiling and looked like she was about to agree with the plan when Ali's plea cut through them.

"Please, no more violence." If Quinn would have ever bet on one of her children being a pacifist like Rachel then she would have definitely put her money on Harmony but with the current situation she wasn't surprised that both of her children had thrown her ideas out of the window.

"No more violence." Harmony repeated as a promise to Ali and then they both looked at Quinn to see if she would also agree.

"No more violence." She muttered after a few seconds of looking into Ali's weary eyes.

"So what should we do then?" Harmony asked.

"We can come up with an idea." Quinn responded optimistically.

XXXXX

Rachel was reluctant to let Finn back into the house. She really did believe that he had said that word to Ali but Ali was a strong girl and Charlie was probably just overreacting. She was a firm believer in giving people second chances and to be honest it wouldn't have surprised her if Finn hadn't quite understood what the word meant. He wasn't the brightest.

There was also another reason why she had been reluctant to break up with him. He wasn't the ideal guy but he was the only one that was showing her love. She was fairly sure that Quinn was no longer in love with her and that was the reason that she didn't kick him out the night it happened but since then Quinn had left that message. A message that gave her hope.

Rachel thought that because Quinn didn't love her, she hated her life and she resented Rachel for making her give up her dreams to be with a person she no longer loved. But the message had changed her way of thinking.

She didn't know if they should get back together but the message had shown her that Quinn really did love her and maybe they could work something out from there.

That was why Rachel invited Finn over tonight. This was his second chance. If he apologized profusely or said he didn't know what it meant then she would forgive him and maybe they could be friends. If he did know what it meant and didn't apologize then he would never step foot in her house again.

One thing was certain from tonight though was that she would be boyfriend free by the end of it and she would then be able to work on her marriage.

When Finn arrived at the house he had bought a bunch of flowers with him that were looking slightly dead but she still appreciated the thought and went to put them in a vase, completely missing the reduced price sign on the side of the clear plastic casing.

As she walked back to him he had turned on the TV and made himself comfortable on the sofa and he had even put his feet up on the coffee table. Once again she was determined to give him a fair chance and so just sighed and sat down next to him. He was watching the end of some highlights for some sort of basketball came and they spent 5 minutes in silence as Finn was obviously just happy to ignore her and watch.

Eventually she started to get frustrated and snatched the remote up and turned off the TV in time to hear a car pull up outside. She was distracted from the fact there might be a visitor when Finn turned towards her with anger in his eyes.

"Why the hell did you do that?" He shouted at her and she tried not to flinch at his tone.

"We need to talk Finn." Rachel said calmly

"Yeah after the game." He said sitting back and obviously expecting her to just turn it back on as he had said.

"No, now Finn." He let out an exaggerated sigh but made a hurry up motion with his hand to show he was listening.

Rachel was starting to see what Charlie had been talking about when she said that Finn was a jerk as she was finally seeing that side of him for herself.

"I need to ask you what you said to my daughter when you were here the other night." Rachel said giving him the opportunity to confess what he did.

"I didn't say anything." He blatantly lied.

"Finn you are lying to me." He shrugged his shoulders showing his boredom with the conversation and Rachel started to feel angry.

"Do you know what the word dyke means?" She asked in a low voice trying to keep control of her temper.

"Yeah there's one upstairs." He laughed a little to himself and Rachel saw red.

"Get out of my house." Rachel said in a deathly calm voice that immediately made Finn stop laughing and look at her with disbelief.

"What?" He questioned getting his signature confused look on his face.

"Now, get out now." Rachel shouted with the full power of her voice, finally letting her anger out.

"There's no way I'm letting you kick me out bitch. I'm your boyfriend." He said getting an evil and possessive glint in his eyes that Rachel really didn't like the look of as he continued, "I'm not letting your little dyke of a daughter get in between us."

The slap echoed across the house and an angry mark almost automatically started to rise up on Finn's face. He felt his cheek slowly with a disbelieving look on his face until it slowly melted away into rage. Rachel began to panic as Finn purposefully raised his hand and she closed her eyes to wait for the blow as she saw his hand begin to descend.

But the blow never came.

She opened her eyes and saw Charlie stood behind Finn holding his arm and stopping him from hitting her. The look in her eyes was pure, adulterated hatred and it clearly shocked Finn as much as it shocked Rachel to see the depth of loathing contained in those hazel eyes.

"What the hell." Finn muttered as he realised that she was still holding his arm but before he could pull it away Quinn started to move.

She let go of his arm and pulled hers back until she got enough swing and slammed her fist into his nose. Blood splattered across the room from the hit and Finn bent over holding onto his nose and Quinn lifted her knee and hit him in his family jewels which sent him to his knees and she delivered the final blow by kneeing him in the face.

Just as he slumped to the floor unconscious, Harmony made her way into the room and saw what Quinn had done and called out to her just as she was about to kick Finn in the stomach.

"Charlie calm down and remember what you promised." It seemed to do the trick but a little too late as her full strength kick made contact. Instead of carrying on with the kicking however she grabbed the unconscious man's legs and with great effort on her part she pulled him towards the front door, stopping to grab his keys and jacket and throwing them to Harmony.

"Could you open the door for me?" Quinn asked as the two brunette's stood in the hallway, slightly shocked. Harmony rushed to fulfil the request and followed until Quinn dumped Finn alongside his truck then she took the keys and jacket off Harmony and dropped them unceremoniously on the man's blood splattered chest.

Rachel had remained on the porch, still trying to wrap her head around the turn of events and Quinn and Harmony moved to stand beside her once they were done.

Harmony pulled her mother into a hug and Quinn said, "You need to go back inside and make sure everything is locked so he can't get back in."

"What are you going to do?" Harmony asked.

"I'm going to wait out here until he wakes up and I'm going to have a little chat with him." Quinn said trying to put all of her confidence into her words when she was feeling anything but.

"What if he hurts you!" Harmony almost screamed. She knew she was probably overreacting but the thought of the blonde getting hurt didn't sit right with her. She still kind of had a crush on the girl and on top of that Charlie had just saved her mother from getting beaten and helped her little sister. She wanted to protect Charlie like the blonde had protected them.

"I can handle myself and it would no longer be a fair fight with the state he is in anyway." Quinn said with a wary smile which convinced neither of the women.

"You don't need to stay with him. He can drive to his home or the hospital when he wakes up just fine." Rachel said finally focusing on the conversation and when she looked at Quinn there was a lot of gratitude.

"I just want to make sure he knows not to come back." Quinn said seriously.

"You shouldn't have hit him, you could get in trouble for that." Rachel said quietly knowing that what she was suggesting would have meant that Quinn would have let Finn hit her.

"I would never have let him hurt you. He's a piece of crap for even thinking about it and besides I'm sure we will come to an agreement of some sort." Quinn said looking at the bundle led on the driveway.

Rachel and Harmony didn't like the sound of that but when Finn started mumbling, Quinn quickly ushered them both inside and repeated her instruction to lock the doors before she closed the front door on them.

Quinn walked over to Finn to see if he was awake but it appeared as if he was just mumbling in his sleep and so she heaved a sigh and sat on the wall surrounding the front yard, about 15 feet away from Finn as she waited to talk to him.

She thought it was about a half an hour before Finn started to stir but she didn't have a watch or a phone so she really couldn't be sure. When his head stuck up from the ground he groaned and looked around slowly, noticing where he was and then that there was a shadowy figure sat a little way away from him.

"Who is that? Can you help me?" He asked in a pitiful voice as he rubbed his battered head with one hand and his bruised junk with the other.

"I have already given you everything you deserve tonight. I'm not sure you could take much more" Quinn growled lowly. She knew she should have played this a bit better but at the sound of his whiny voice she had gotten angry again and was only just restraining herself from taking advantage of his weakened state by getting a few more hits in.

"Stupid dyke." He tried to growl back at her but it wasn't intimidating in the slightest.

"Listen up numb nuts because I am about to lay it down for you." She realised that she was channelling Santana a little bit but decided it was a good thing and so carried on.

"What you attempted to do in there could get you arrested. Now you probably wouldn't go to jail for very long but you know what would happen. You would lose your job, you would lose any chance of ever getting another job because you would have a criminal record which means that you would have no money and you might even lose your house. No woman wants to date a man who was arrested for attempted domestic abuse and possible aggravated assault of a minor. Even if you weren't arrested for that, you have committed assault and can get 6 months for that. One phone call and in short your life will turn to shit. Is that what you want?"

He started to try to get up, probably to hit her if the anger in his eyes was anything to go by but she quickly approached him and pushed at a part of his neck which instantly made him lose the feeling in the arm he was using to get up and he fell back to the floor. She sent a silent thank you to her father for teaching her that weak spot.

"Is that what you want?" Quinn repeated the question and this time he shook his head in the negative.

"So we make a deal. You don't come back here ever again. You don't press charges and then we won't press charges." Quinn said.

"Hey if I press charges you would probably get jail time too!" Finn stated suddenly realising his position.

"Yeah but I'm under 18 which means I get a lesser sentence and it would be unlikely to stay on my criminal record. I could still get a job, a house, a girl. You have a lot more to lose." Quinn explained to him and his face dropped.

"Deal?" Quinn asked looking at the hopeless look on the man child's face.

"Deal." He whispered with his loathing evident as he once again tried to pull himself up.

Quinn just watched his attempts as she retook her seat on the wall and at the fifth try and heavily leaning on his truck he managed to get up and then walk around to the driver's side of the car.

He drove away without looking back.

XXXXX

After the craziness that had been Quinn's weekend, she was almost kind of glad to go back to school especially because she got to tell the boys today that the band was going to be playing at Brittany's bar. She had forgone the idea of telling them over the phone because she thought it would be better if they were all together and she could tell them in person.

It would have to wait until after the early morning basketball practise which, although Quinn did love her sleep, she really didn't mind waking up for.

Another plus side was that Ali had seemed to return to her normal self. The were the odd moments where she would stare into space when the old Ali would have leaped into a conversation and there was that one moment where she dived into the locker room at the sight of some male basketball players and nearly cracked her head open but apart from that she seemed much better.

Since they started practice Ali seemed to be doing better with every passing minute. Her skills were still at the same level so Sue put Quinn and Ali on separate teams when they split the team for a mini game and the competition really seemed to bring her alive.

By the time that practice was over, all the girls were exhausted but happy with their progress. They had to be in top condition if they were going to take the championship.

As always, Quinn hung back as the other girls went into shower because even though they all knew about her extra part now, she didn't really want to be gawked at. She practised her free throws knowing that it can be the key to winning a game sometimes and after about five shots the Coach stopped her.

"You are getting better Evans." Sue said honestly.

"Thanks Coach, so what do you need because you aren't the type to hang back just to pass out compliments?" Quinn asked giving her complete attention to Sue.

"I was on the phone yesterday with a couple of scouts from a couple of good colleges, Yale to name but one. They are interested in coming to the game to see you play and if you do well enough, there might be a scholarship in it for you." Sue said with some of her excitement showing through.

"Wow Coach, that's amazing." Quinn was shocked to say the least. Not about the fact that someone was coming to watch because that had happened for the last championship game she played in but she was shocked at the idea that if she didn't change back then she would have to live through her 20's and 30's again but this time without Rachel and her kids. If she went away to college she would lose her whole life.

She had been enjoying being 17 too much to worry about when she would turn back but now the reality had hit her hard. What if she never turned back because she never learned her lesson. She had made life better with her kids and with Rachel, she knew she wanted to be with them no matter what and she certainly wasn't going to resent them any more so what was there left to learn?

"Don't get too overwhelmed Evans, just go take a shower." Sue commanded as the last girl walked out of the changing rooms.

Quinn just nodded, still lost in her own thoughts.

XXXXX

Once she was clean she jogged outside to the football field to the bleachers where she had scheduled to meet Puck, Matt and Sebastian. She hadn't realised that Matt and Sebastian went to McKinley but it was a big school and so she couldn't be expected to remember everyone after only a few weeks.

The three boys were already there waiting for her with Puck and Matt being freshly showered after their football practice. From a distance she could see Puck and Sebastian arguing as Matt beat out a rhythm on the stands, completely blocking them out.

"...and that is why the Mohawk will remain a classic and kick ass hair cut." Puck finished his argument with vigour as Quinn got into hearing range.

Sebastian looked like he was about to argue back, clearly not be convinced by whatever argument Puck had given but Matt cut over him.

"Hey Charlie, what did you call us here for?" Matt asked clearly trying to change the subject.

"Well, I wanted to tell you that I got a call from Brittany after the show this weekend, you know the manager of the Band House?" When she received three nods she continued, "Well she said that you got a gig, Tuesdays and Thursdays, a half an hour set!"

"Hell yeah."

"We are the best."

"How many songs to I get to sing?"

The three things were said at once and everyone turned to look at Sebastian after he had asked the selfish question. Quinn just ignored him and addressed the issue she wanted to bring up.

"So for these sets guys, as they are going to be a regular thing, you might want to start writing some new songs or start learning to play some covers because although you will be alright for this week, next week you will probably need some new material." Quinn explained practically as she started walking back and forth in front of the guys.

"Well we have been working on a couple of new songs." Puck started.

"And we could easily learn some covers to fill out our set." Matt finished and the two boys beamed at each other and at their newly formulated plan.

"I still haven't been told how many songs I get to sing." Sebastian questioned impatiently.

"Stop being such a diva dude." Puck scolded and Quinn spotted that another argument was about to begin and hastily stepped in.

"You can sing half Sebastian, how does that sound?" Quinn asked.

"Its a good start." Sebastian said, pulling a small mirror from his pocket and readjusting a few stray hairs.

Three pairs of eyes rolled simultaneously.

XXXXX

That night when Quinn came home from school she was feeling on top of the world and that feeling was only made better when the phone rang at about 10 o'clock and Rachel's sweet voice drifted across the line to her.

"_Can we talk?"_ Rachel asked quietly.

"About anything." Quinn replied remembering to lower her voice to accommodate the years of smoking her older voice contained.

"_Did you mean what you said in that message the other day?" _Rachel asked with her vulnerability evident in her voice as if she was expecting Quinn to say it was all a drunken mistake.

"Every word of it." Quinn responded simply and honestly.

"_Where do we go from here Quinn? I mean we have a court hearing next Wednesday to finalise our divorce, do you want me to go through with it?"_

"_Does_ it matter what I want? You deserve to be happy Rach and if you need to let me go to be happy...well I guess I have to let you go."

"_Do you want to let me go?" _The vulnerability in her voice was back.

"No, it would break my heart to lose you and I have only just realised how much I need you and love you from being apart for these months."

"_I don't want to lose you either."_

"Tell me what you want me to do."

"_Meet me for Lunch tomorrow?" _Rachel asked.

It was a simple enough request but it was impossible for Quinn to do that. She looked like Charlie and if she went, Rachel would think it was Charlie. She was so screwed.

"Rach, I'm so sorry, I can't." Quinn said truly trying to think of a way out of the situation.

"_Why not." _The disbelief was evident in her voice.

"I...I..." She couldn't think of a lie and she was flailing badly.

"_If you really still love me, meet me at the place you used to take me for lunch all the time in high school at midday tomorrow. Goodbye Quinn."_ She hung up after that without waiting for a response from Quinn.

She stared at the phone for what felt like hours just staring at the handset listening to the dial tone blare out from it, feeling like the obnoxious noise was symbolic of what was going to happen to her relationship if she didn't turn up tomorrow.

XXXXX

Sneaking out of school the period before lunch the next day was surprisingly easy because to put it bluntly the teachers at McKinley high school just didn't care. Mr Schuester even waved at her happily as she got into her car and drove off the site.

The Burger Shack was the place that Quinn had always taken Rachel for lunch in high school as well as it being the place where she had bumped into her as Charlie for one of the first times. Quinn wasn't being inconsiderate taking her vegan girlfriend to a place that mainly sold burgers because they also made a variety of salads containing vegan meats and amazing dressings and Rachel had been the one to introduce her to the place.

She hoped that the place had been what Rachel had had in mind as she parked at the back of the lot and as she was 15 minutes early, sat and waited for Rachel to arrive.

Quinn really had no idea what she was planning on doing once Rachel arrived but the one thing she did know was that she couldn't have sat absent mindedly in an English class whilst her chances of patching things up with her wife was slipping away.

10 minutes later when Rachel showed up, always liking to be early, Quinn was no closer to a solution and when the clock struck midday she knew she had to make a decision. She decided to go with her gut instinct and slammed her car shut behind her as she strode towards the building.

When the tiny bell above the door rang as she stepped in she automatically lost the wind out of her sails and stood there looking at Rachel's back until she turned around.

"Charlie, what are you doing here?" Rachel asked with her eyebrows furrowed.

"Lunch." The word slipped out and although she meant to meet her for lunch, Rachel just thought she meant lunch in general and nodded and turned back into her seat.

Quinn slipped down opposite her but Rachel was quick to stop her, "Sorry Charlie, I'm meeting someone." The hope in her eyes was almost painful to look at, as she knew the 37 year old Quinn Fabray would not be coming.

"When she comes, I'll move." Quinn compromised and at first Rachel was reluctant but she really didn't have a mean bone in her body and so relented.

They quickly placed their order while they waited and sat in an awkward silence whilst they waited for their food, with Rachel looking at her watch every few seconds. They had both ordered the same thing they always did when they came to this place and Rachel noticed after Quinn had taken a few bites of her double bacon cheeseburger.

"You know Quinn always orders the same thing when we come here." Rachel commented with a small, sad smile on her face at the thought of her absent wife.

"I guess we must be a lot alike." Quinn said and Rachel nodded vaguely as she considered just how true that statement was.

Once they had finished their food, Rachel sighed deeply, gave once last look at her watch which said Quinn was 25 minutes late then went to get up.

"You know the first time I ever came here was with the love of my life." Quinn said quietly but Rachel heard it none the less and sat back down, intrigued at the vulnerability in the young blonde's voice.

"I love her more than anything in the world but now I think I'm going to lose and I'm not sure there is anything I can do about it." Quinn couldn't bring herself to look at Rachel as she poured her heart out and she wasn't sure where she was going with her little speech, all she knew was that she couldn't let Rachel leave.

"Why can't you do anything about it?" Rachel asked softly.

"Because I'm not me any more and I don't think she can recognize me. What's worse is that I'm not even sure if I will be able to change back into the woman she needs me to be."

She chanced a look up at Rachel and she was looking at her as if she was a complicated puzzle that she was getting paid a fortune to solve.

"I am so afraid that I have lost my family for good because I was just so selfish and you deserve a hell of a lot better than anything I could ever give." Quinn realised what she had said when she heard Rachel gasp and her eyes widened.

"Q-Quinn?" Rachel asked unsurely and with a look in her eyes as if she truly believed she had gone crazy.

"I never thought you would realize it was me." Quinn said, confirming Rachel's belief.

"But this is crazy, you can't be, ITS IMPOSSIBLE!" She practically screamed the last line and everyone in the place turned to look at her but she didn't seem to notice as it looked like she was about to bolt.

"The first time I asked you out almost immediately after I fell out of a plane, we tell the kids that the first time we slept together was on our honeymoon but we actually did it for the first time in the park by fifth street and lastly, the first time I told you that I loved you was after the whole school found out about my little buddy and you held me whilst I cried for three hours after school in the girls locker room." Quinn let out a deep breathe and hoped what she said was enough proof for Rachel that she was telling her the truth.

The shock was evident on Rachel's face, "I'm so sorry, I can't." Rachel mumbled the same line Quinn had used the previous night before running out of the Burger Shack and driving off.

Quinn wondered if Rachel had felt similar pain after she had said those words but all she could feel was emptiness as she watched the woman that she loved drive away from her. She had never felt so alone.

XXXXX

The band had done a good job at preparing for their shows, they had been practising even harder than before and with Quinn's mediation, there seemed to be a harmony in the group that had never been achieved before.

The first week of performances had gone well with Quinn of course attending both of them and although there was only a small crowd of regulars they all seemed to enjoy themselves and Brittany appeared happy so Quinn was considering the sets a success.

It was the second Tuesday that they had performed at the Band House and Quinn was sat at a small table at the back of the room watching as they performed a newly written song for the first time. It had everyone cheering along within seconds and Quinn, not for the first time, wondered how they had gone unnoticed for so long.

She was getting quite used to the three boys exciting a crowd and so her eyes started to wander and she spotted a man sat on the table next to her in an expensive looking suit and watching the band with scrutinizing eyes.

"They are amazing aren't they?" Quinn asked feeling defensive of the boys as the man looked at the stage with judging eyes.

"There is certainly something special about them." The man said, sitting back in his chair but pushing his glasses a little further up his nose so that he could still watch them intently.

"They write all there own songs did you know?" Quinn carried on, wanting to find out what this man's angle was.

"That is very impressive. They are called Puck-heads right?"

"Yeah."

He nodded almost to himself and then they watched the rest of the performance in silence. The man never once took his eyes off the three boys on the stage until they went into the back room. As Quinn went to follow them to congratulate them, she looked back to see the man had gotten out of his chair and was talking to Brittany. She wrote something down on a piece of paper for him and he then left the bar with a quick thanks over his shoulder.

She ignored the strangeness of the last half an hour, instead choosing to focus on making sure the boys felt good about their set. Self confidence made a huge difference on stage and was a must have.

She missed the mischievous smile that Brittany shot her as Quinn walked into the back room.

XXXXX

The next morning Quinn wasn't really sure what she was going to do. She hadn't seen Rachel since they had lunch the previous week and every time she went to the house to see Ali, Rachel had mysteriously disappeared.

She even tried calling from the Quinn number but all that had resulted in was several embarrassing messages left on Rachel's answering phone asking her to talk to her.

Today was the day that they had a court hearing to finalise their divorce but was Rachel still going through with it. If she believed that Charlie was Quinn then she knew that she had turned up to lunch but if she didn't believe then she probably thought Quinn had abandoned her and had thrown away their last chance to make things right.

When she went to the front door to leave to make her way to the court room she noticed some letters on the floor. The top one caught her eye and she quickly opened it.

It was a notice of termination of divorce proceedings from the Ohio state office.

**A/N: Just one more chapter left guys, please review...**


	10. In A Heartbeat

**A/N: This is it, the final chapter! I hope you enjoy...**

When a strange man walks up to you and offers you something, you are usually not supposed to take it. That rule however can be bent when the man happens to be a stranger that you have met once before and is not handing you any dodgy looking sweets but an envelope.

"Are you Miss Charlie Evans?" The man that Quinn had met at the Band House the previous night asked when she opened the front door of her house.

"Yes I am. Who are you?" Quinn asked cautiously, wondering why the odd man had appeared on her doorstep.

"My name is Miles Armstrong and I work for Solar Records, a recording company based here in Ohio and I was informed that you are the manager of the band, Puck-heads?"

She nodded her head in confirmation and he continued, "May I come in? I believe we have a lot to discuss."

Quinn led him into the living room and once they were both seated he handed her the large padded envelope he had been carrying and explained, "In there, is the standard contract that we provide for artists that we wish to sign to our company. We are very interested in what this band has to offer and although you are all only teenagers, I believe there is a great future ahead of you."

"How did you hear about the band? Was that why you were at the Band House last night?" Quinn questioned still not quite understanding how things had taken such a dramatic leap forward so suddenly.

"My daughter attended a performance of the band at a different bar and ranted about how amazing their original songs were. I knew I had to check it out and I was right." Miles said as he rubbed his hands over his knees and leaned forward slightly.

"Of course I will have to have a lawyer look through the contract and I imagine you will be open to some possible negotiations if this does not live up to our expectations?" Quinn said, trying to be professional about the situation.

"Of course, I would expect nothing less and this is just a standard contract which will simply act as a starting point for discussions." Miles conceded running a hand through his short cut, sandy blonde hair and pushing his glasses a little further up his nose. On only the second meeting, Quinn could already tell that this was a habit of the otherwise put together looking man.

"My business card is in the envelope so that you can get in contact with me if you wish to discuss anything or want to set up a meeting." Miles said, standing up and Quinn did the same.

"The band and I thank you for this offer." Quinn said rather formally and Miles smiled approvingly at her attempts to be professional.

"Solar Records is excited to be working with you." Miles responded with the same tone, shook her hand and then left the house.

XXXXX

When they had been kids, Quinn had always been convinced that Santana would end up spending her life on the court and she was right to a certain degree in that Santana ended up working in a court rather than on it. She was the first and only person that Quinn could think of that she trusted to handle such an important piece of legal work and Santana really was known as the best lawyer in Ohio.

When she pulled up in front of the house later that evening, this time fully dressed, she realised that the whole Lopez family was home and hoped things wouldn't get awkward.

She knocked the door and she was obviously just having a good day because it was Brittany that answered.

"You are here to speak to Santana." It was a statement, not a question and Quinn's mouth dropped open with shock at how Brittany could have known that so certainly. Then it hit her.

"You gave the man at the bar last night my address." Again it was a statement as Quinn remembered seeing Brittany write something down for the man.

"Has he offered the band a deal?" She asked excitedly

"He has and I want Santana to look over the contract for me."

"Of course, she's in her office so come on through." Brittany said as she ushered Quinn inside and up the stairs to a closed door which she opened straight up.

The office was small and at first glance cluttered but Quinn could see a method to the madness especially as Santana flitted around the restricted space, plucking books and papers from one place and depositing them somewhere else with practised ease.

"Hey baby, Quinn needs your help." Brittany reached out and pulled the smaller woman to a stop, giving her a quick kiss on the lips and then turned her to face Quinn.

"What's up Q?" Santana asked but continued to sort some papers on her desk as she sat down. Quinn took the seat opposite her and pulled the envelope containing the contract out of her bag and placed it on the table.

"Puck-heads got an offer from a recording company and I was hoping that you could look over the contract." Quinn explained with a hopeful look towards the brunette. Santana opened the contract and started scanning it and nodded her head more to herself than the two blondes in the room.

"Quinnie, you came to the right place." Santana smirked.

XXXXX

It was the following Friday when Quinn saw Rachel again and if she was being honest she couldn't help but feel massively relieved that the woman was OK but she couldn't help but curse the bad timing.

Quinn saw Rachel at the Championship basketball game.

The second that she saw her, Quinn immediately lost all of her focus for the upcoming game and spent the whole pre-game watching the woman unnoticed until a different brunette got her attention.

"I have written up a new contract with the changes that we talked about but I have to say Q that even if Solar doesn't agree to this, the original contract was stacked in your favour in the long run so I would take it. This new contract is just seeing how far we can push them." Santana said quietly in her ear as they were currently surrounded in the crowded gym.

"This is our shot isn't it?" Quinn asked.

"Q this thing is going to make Puck-heads huge." Santana responded seriously and Quinn nodded.

"Its good to know that I have something to fall back on if I never get changed back." Quinn murmured lowly but Santana still heard.

"What makes you think you won't get changed back?" Santana asked sensing her friend's obvious distress.

"I don't know what other lesson I have to learn. My spirit guide must just hate me or I'm just too stupid but I think I'm going to be stuck this way for a long time." Quinn said sadly, staring out at the basketball court which was covered with a smattering of players who were warming up.

Maybe she wasn't meant to turn back. Maybe her destiny now was to get the scholarship and live her dreams of becoming a basketball star. Maybe this was fate's way of saying sorry for making her give everything up the first time and giving her an awful job that she had hated.

But she hadn't hated the fact that she had been with Rachel, she had just hated her job. In fact Rachel and the kids had been the only thing that had made her life bearable.

She found herself just excepting her fate as she listened to the squeal of shoes on the hard wood floor. She was going to have to live her life again and even of the band got the record deal, she still wanted to have a backup and she wanted to win where she had lost the last time around. That meant she had to win the championship game.

"I think there are still a few things left for you to learn Quinn. Sometimes you just have to be patient." Santana said with a wisdom that Quinn had never realised she possessed. She was stopped from thinking any further on her words when the Coach called her over so they could start the game.

"Thank you San. For everything." Quinn said pulling the brunette into a hug.

"Why does it feel like you saying goodbye?" Santana asked with confusion written across her features.

_Because I am saying goodbye. I am saying goodbye to my life as Quinn Fabray and beginning my life as Charlie Evans, starting with winning this game._

"Evans! Get a move on." Sue shouted across the court and Quinn gave Santana a final hug before sprinting over to her coach.

Sue started talking as soon as she got there but Quinn wasn't paying attention as her eyes caught Rachel's for the first time in over a week and the brown eyes seemed to be searching for something in her own.

All of a sudden Rachel's eyes widened as she realised that it really was Quinn staring back at her and it all became too much. As the players walked onto the court and moved into their starting positions Rachel moved quickly to leave the gym not being able to handle the idea that all the feeling's she had felt for Charlie had been for Quinn and that Quinn was stuck as her 17 year old self.

She moved towards the tunnel that led out of the gym and stopped to look back at the blonde one last time just as the ball was tipped into action and was sent spiralling into Quinn's hands.

Quinn was having flashbacks as she stood there dribbling the ball and watched her team mates and her Coach screaming at her, watched the basketball scout who would give her a scholarship give her strange looks, watched Rachel try to say goodbye to her using only her eyes.

As Rachel turned and ran down the tunnel, Quinn also watched the Janitor stood in the stands just above where Rachel had disappeared give her a knowing smile and all of a sudden she realised the lesson she had to learn.

That she would leave behind everything again in a heartbeat to follow Rachel.

A small smile spread across her face as she straightened out, threw the ball into Ali's waiting arms and ran off the court to the angry shouts of a gym full of people but she really couldn't care less as she turned into the corridor she had stopped Rachel in last time.

As she ran, she saw the air start to shift and felt the same tugging that had pulled her off the bridge all those weeks ago and suddenly long blonde hair fell into her face and the world stopped shifting.

"Quinn?" She turned to see Rachel stood around the corner with amazement on her face after having clearly just witnessed Quinn's transformation.

Her hair had grown out again, she felt a strange rasp in her throat and her abs had gone but none of that mattered when Rachel tackle hugged her and she lifted her wife off the ground, spun her around and kissed her soundly on the lips.

"I love you so much Rachel. I just had to realise that I don't regret following you all those years ago and that I would do it all again in a heartbeat. You are my everything and I don't ever want to lose you again. I love you." Quinn repeated in her newly recovered raspier voice and tried to show Rachel through her eyes just how sincere she was being.

"I love you too Quinn."

XXXXX

ONE YEAR LATER

The 17 year old blonde girl looked across the sofa at her brunette companion and quickly leaned across and planted her lips on the soft, plump ones across from her and moaned at the taste. Things quickly became more heated and she soon found herself hovering over the smaller girl with her hands roaming everywhere.

A purposeful cough brought them back to reality as the two girls sprang apart and Ali blushed all over her body at having been caught by her mothers and Sugar laughed at her girlfriend's obvious discomfort. She pulled the blonde into a side hug which Ali returned, a little stiffly, before pulling away and staring at the floor.

"You get some Al!" Quinn congratulated and went to high five her daughter but it only served to make the younger blonde blush even further.

"Quinn, don't encourage her, it was inappropriate for them to do that in here." Rachel scolded as she lightly back handed Quinn's abs, which she had spent the last year restoring to their 17 year old glory.

Rachel had always been particularly protective of Ali because she was the baby of the family whereas Quinn was now seeing her as more of a buddy since their approximately month long friendship. It meant that even though Ali was now 17, Rachel still didn't like the idea of the younger blonde dating despite how much Rachel liked Sugar Lopez.

"They are teenagers, they are going to do this stuff baby." Quinn said, pulling Rachel into her arms and kissing the pout off of the smaller woman's lips. After a few similar kisses which were getting longer and deeper, Ali coughed pointedly and fake coughed the word 'hypocrite', which made Sugar laugh and the two older women slowly break apart.

"You are allowed to do this when you are in love." Quinn stated, still not relinquishing her hold on Rachel and the brunette seemed content to stay in Quinn's arms.

"We are in love." Ali replied with a smirk and Sugar took her hand and scooted closer to her again with a smile playing on her lips.

"And married." Quinn added on as an afterthought and then pumped her fist in the air when she realised that she had effectively, one-upped her daughter. Ali pouted at her loss of the argument and Sugar kissed the pout off her lips in the same way that Quinn had done with Rachel.

"Oh its so freaking adorable." Quinn cooed, effectively breaking the couple apart. Rachel just rolled her eyes at her wife's antics and walked into the kitchen followed immediately by Quinn. As soon as they were out of sight of the teenagers, Quinn grabbed Rachel's hand, spun her around and pressed her against the counter.

"So Mrs Fabray, the famous and most brilliant landscape designer in all of Ohio, I was wondering if you would allow me the privilege of a kiss now that we are alone?" Quinn said in a smooth, British accent.

"Well you are quite the charmer but I am afraid I'm married so I can't kiss you. I mean, what if my wife found out?" Rachel gasped with fake fear at the possibility.

"Screw her!" Quinn shouted quietly and then moved into kiss her but before their lips met, Rachel put a hand on Quinn's face to stop her.

"Maybe tonight." She whispered in a low and seductive voice, before she gave Quinn a light peck on the lips and walked to pick up her bag and keys.

"Come on girls, we have to get going or we are going to be late for the wedding." Rachel called into the next room without looking in and knew that was the right decision when there was a sudden squeaking of the sofa springs as the girls jumped apart again.

"That was kind of cruel, I mean do you know how sexy you are? That should be classed as a form of torture." Quinn said dramatically as she followed Rachel to the front door with Ali and Sugar in tow.

"Gross! I so did not need to here that." Ali complained and Sugar rubbed her shoulders in sympathy.

"Please don't scar my baby." Sugar took up Ali's cause as they walked down the driveway to Quinn's Audi.

"I apologize Miss Lopez, what I meant to say was that she is the most gorgeous woman I have ever laid my eyes open and I was desiring to spend more time with her in the bedroom." Quinn said it in the British accent and probably could have gotten away with it with getting a scolding from Rachel if she hadn't wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Sugar just blushed in response and Ali groaned and pleaded, "Can we please leave before the images in my head cause me to projectile vomit on you?"

"Yes, everyone get in the car." Rachel called, wanting to spare the teenagers any further embarrassment and they quickly complied.

"And you do not get to drove now because you have scarred our child." Rachel said in a stern tone and Quinn just let a grin spread across her face.

As they pulled out of the driveway, Rachel automatically reached for the CD player so that they could listen to music, as she did every time they travelled somewhere in the car.

The smoky voice of Noah Puckerman came blasting from the speakers of Quinn's car and an audible groan could be heard from Ali over the thumping beat.

"Please don't make me listen to this again. Every time you take me somewhere its always the same CD." Ali complained and covered her ears to emphasize her point.

"I think they are really good, didn't they make it into the top 40 last week?" Sugar asked, ignoring the weak glare she was getting from her girlfriend for encouraging Quinn.

"Yeah they did and they already have three number one songs and their new song is predicted to be in the top three by next week." Quinn explained with the pride evident in her voice.

"Don't get her started or she will talk about those three boys for hours." Rachel advised Sugar without taking her eyes off the road.

"Well she should be proud, she is their manager isn't she?" Sugar questioned and Quinn grinned back at her.

_FLASHBACK _

"_This is a closed rehearsal. You can't be in here!" Sebastian practically shouted across the room the moment he spotted Quinn enter The Band House. The other two looked up from their instruments at the intrusion and Matt's mouth fell open. _

"_Charlie?" He asked uncertainly._

"_What have you done to your hair man and your face looks weird." Puck asked taking a few steps closer to the blonde, attempting to get a better look at the blonde._

"_You sure know how to charm a girl, Puckerman." Quinn drawled and all three seemed to accept that this was Charlie even if she looked different._

"_I have to tell you guys something about myself." Quinn started and then proceeded to tell them her story. Even to her own ears she knew how unbelievable it sounded and she wouldn't blame them for kicking her out and calling her a liar._

"_So, is that how you knew what to do to get us better gigs, because you used to work as a sales rep?" Puck asked after she had finished her story and silence had filled the room for a few moments._

"_Yes. Do you believe me about this stuff?" Quinn asked meeting three sets of eyes, each showing different emotions._

_Puck's showed awe, Matt's showed understanding and Sebastian's showed disbelief. The former two boys nodded their head to show that they did believe her especially as she looked so similar to Charlie._

"_I think this is a big joke, I don't know what you are trying to do but you need to get the hell out!" Sebastian said, getting to his feet and walking away from the little group in his anger._

"_You dye your hair." Quinn stated simply but it had the desired effect as the boy spun back towards them with outrage on his face._

"_How did you know?" He gasped._

"_I walked in on you doing your roots the other day." Quinn answered as Sebastian started walking back towards them with a thoughtful look on his face._

"_Charlie walked in on me and she is the only one who knows about that." He said with his face lighting up in comprehension as he spoke each word._

"_Exactly." That seemed to be all that was required for the three boys to believe her and she was _

_beyond relieved that she had their trust as she went onto to the next thing she wanted to talk about._

"_A man from Solar Records approached me as the manager of Puck-heads and has informed me that he wants to make a deal with you. He has given me a contract and I have had a lawyer look over it and make some changes. I want to go through it with you before I send it back to the man, that is if you still want me to be your manager?" Quinn questioned with a little vulnerability and hope showing through in her words._

_The three boys looked at each other and seemed to have a silent conversation before Matt took a step forward and said, "You will always be our manager whether you are Charlie or Quinn."_

_It led to a big group hug before Quinn pulled out the freshly altered contract and started going through it._

_END OF FLASHBACK _

"Because I love you Al, we can listen to the radio." Quinn stated fairly and turned the CD off only to have a different Puck-heads song start blaring at them through the radio.

"Ha, its fate, we are meant to listen to the greatest band of all time." Quinn called triumphantly and Ali pretended to be angry with the turn of events even though she not so secretly adored the band's music. She was even tapping her foot in time to the beat by the time they pulled up outside of the church.

They had arrived an hour before everything started but as Quinn held the position that had, for the intents of this wedding been dubbed, 'best woman', she really should have been there even earlier.

When Sam had asked her to be the best man for his wedding, as she was the only friend that he had, of course she was never going to say no but she did ask him to change the name of her job a little which he had happily done.

Quinn truly found it an honour when she got to stand next to her best friend as he got married to the woman he loved. Although she had been doubtful at first, what with Sam's inevitable weirdness, she now had no doubts that Sam and Mercedes were meant for each other.

Quinn really did love the blonde guy like a brother, after all he had been there for her when she had nobody else after Rachel had kicked her out of the house. He had helped her to find herself when she was changed back into a 17 year old and gave her all he could to make sure she found happiness.

She was over come with the belief that Sam also deserved the same happiness so when the time came to pass him the wedding ring, she did so with a huge smile on her face and a quick but meaningful squeeze on the shoulder.

When she turned back to her position she couldn't help but catch Rachel's eye and feel a gentler smile grow over her face as she thought about the day that she was allowed to tie herself to her soul mate forever.

For so long she had taken that day and what it really meant for granted but as she looked into the brown eyes that shone with love for her she knew that she would never take her wife for granted again.

Their eye contact never broke even after the 'I do's' were said.

XXXXX

After the wedding reception was over and the newly married couple had been sent off on their honeymoon, everyone had dispersed and even though it was late at night, Quinn and Rachel went to pick up Harmony from the airport with Ali and Sugar asleep in the back seat.

Harmony was just finishing up her first year in college and was coming home to visit her family and to be honest, the two parents were overly excited. They let the two girls sleep in the back as they went in and found Harmony.

The two brunette's instantly ran to each other across the crowded terminal in a dramatic way that perfectly suited their diva personalities. Rachel was just letting go as Quinn came over and hugged her daughter as well. They hadn't seen her since Christmas and despite talking to her on Skype, it just wasn't the same as seeing her in person.

Quinn picked up Harmony's two incredibly heavy suitcases as the two women in front of her chatted about Harmony's performances in Georgetown and lugged them to the car. Harmony jumped into the back seat, pushing the sleeping Ali out of the way and onto her girlfriend before continuing on with the conversation.

After a few minutes the conversation ceased to flow and one yawn from the younger brunette led to another and eventually all three of the back seat passengers were asleep. Quinn had finally been allowed to drive and she spared a second to look from the road and glanced at her beautiful wife illuminated by the dashboard lights.

She knew that she had been lucky to get a second chance to have her family. She had screwed it up the first time but the love that she felt for all of them made her sure that she wouldn't have to become 17 again to appreciate what she had.

She knew now that she had everything.

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who has stuck it through to the end with this story. I am especially grateful to Constructive Criticism who has been an invaluable source of advice in making this story better. I'm also grateful to everyone who reviewed or alerted. You guys make it worth it! **

**Until next time...**


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